Enhancement of steam absorption into a film of LiBr aqueous solution falling over a downward-facing plate

An experimental study was performed on the enhancement of steam absorption into a LiBr aqueous solution. The enhancement method proposed here is to set an absorption heat transfer plate facing downward to generate free convection within a liquid film falling over the plate. The experiment was conducted varying the tilt angle of the heat transfer plate in a range of 40 to 90°. The heat transfer coefficients were compared for both cases of the heat transfer plate facing upward and downward. It was found from the experimental results that the downward-facing plate has a higher heat transfer coefficient than the upward-facing plate, which confirmed that free convection and mixing occur in the liquid film and enhance the absorption heat transfer in the case of the downward-facing plate. The enhancement effect becomes remarkable as the tilt angle approaches horizontal, though the liquid film becomes thick and its thermal resistance increases. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 31(8): 606–616, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/htj.10062