Comparison of parallel and counter flow coil absorber performance

Abstract

This study concentrates on the absorber used in the vapor absorption systems using water-lithium bromide solution with water as the refrigerant and investigates the simultaneously occurred heat and mass transfer during the absorption process. The heat and mass transfer equations were applied to simulate this process and solved using a computer program written in Delphi 7 for the parallel and counter flow absorbers. The simulation results were compared with the results of the past studies. The solution and cooling water temperatures, the overall heat transfer coefficient, the heat transferred and the mass absorbed were calculated for the parallel and counter flow absorbers. It is concluded that the counter flow absorber presents better performance for all conditions. For smaller number of coils, the difference is smaller, however if the number of coils is bigger, the counter flow absorber presents much better performance than the parallel flow absorber. When the number of coils is 20 and 120, the counter (low absorber provides 1.7% and 26% higher heat and mass transfer than the parallel flow absorber respectively.