Absorption of water vapor into aqueous lithium bromide is a fundamental step in absorption refrigeration. When the liquid film is laminar, the coupled heat and mass transfer process is controlled by mass transfer, resulting in low transfer coefficients. Significant augmentation of mass transfer, and hence of the coupled process, is achieved by introducing a trace amount (on the order of 100 ppm) of 2-ethyl-hexanol. The alcohol acts as a surfactant and drives Marangoni convection that effectively mixes the liquid providing a much higher effective mass diffusivity. The film flow in the presence of the alcohol is noticeably different with a complex, apparently unstructured appearance. The flow activity, which can be easily observed, has never been satisfactorily explained until the recent introduction of the Vapor Surfactant theory. This paper presents a series of experimental results of absorption in an actual chiller facility. The novel features of the work include measurement of the effect of inlet subcooling, discussion of the effect of droplets ejected from the tube bundle and an explanation of the importance of flux in the alcohol augmentation physics.
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Technical Papers
Performance of Horizontal Smooth Tube Absorber With and Without 2-Ethyl-Hexanol
Ick-Soo Kyung,
Ick-Soo Kyung
Center for Environmental Energy Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
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Keith E. Herold
e-mail: herold@eng.umd.edu
Keith E. Herold
Center for Environmental Energy Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
Search for other works by this author on:
Ick-Soo Kyung
Center for Environmental Energy Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
Keith E. Herold
Center for Environmental Energy Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
e-mail: herold@eng.umd.edu
Contributed by the Heat Transfer Division for publication in the JOURNAL OF HEAT TRANSFER. Manuscript received by the Heat Transfer Division April 26, 2000; revision received June 5, 2001. Associate Editor: S. Sadhal.
J. Heat Transfer. Feb 2002, 124(1): 177-183 (7 pages)
Published Online: June 5, 2001
Article history
Received:
April 26, 2000
Revised:
June 5, 2001
Citation
Kyung , I., and Herold, K. E. (June 5, 2001). "Performance of Horizontal Smooth Tube Absorber With and Without 2-Ethyl-Hexanol ." ASME. J. Heat Transfer. February 2002; 124(1): 177–183. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.1418366
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