Experimental assessment of a detachable plate falling film heat and mass exchanger couple using lithium bromide and water as working fluids.

Massiveness and cost have impeded the promotion of absorption heat pump (AHP) system for a long time. An improved detachable plate falling film heat and mass exchanger (HMX) couple using lithium bromide (LiBr) and water as working fluids is proposed and a resulting prototype is experimentally assessed. The HMX couple can work as either a generator-condenser couple, or an absorber-evaporator couple in an AHP using LiBr and water as working fluid. In generatorcondenser condition, overall heat and mass transfer coefficients of the generator were 0.607~1.008 kW×m-2×K-1 and 4.4×10-5~18.4×10-5 m×s-1 respectively, and overall heat transfer coefficient of the condenser varies from 0.372 to 1.466 kW×m-2×K-1; in absorber-evaporator condition, overall heat and mass transfer coefficients of the generator were 0.235~0.422 kW×m-2×K-1 and 0.7×105~1.5×10-5 m×s-1 respectively, and overall heat transfer coefficient of the condenser varies from 0.785 to 1.173 kW×m-2×K-1. The experimental results of the HMX couple prototype show feasibility to scale down the size of AHP, and promote application of absorption technology accordingly.