• International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration
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• v.6
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• pp.56-66
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• 1998

The absorption process of water vapor in a liquid film is an important process in LiBr-Water absorption system. The composition of the gas phase, in which a non-absorbable gas is combined with the absorbate, influences the transport characteristics. In the present work, the absorption processes of water vapor into aqueous solutions of lithium bromide in the presence of non-absorbable gas are investigated. The continuity, momentum, energy and diffusion equations for the solution film and gas are formulated in integral forms and solved numerically. It is found that the mass transfer resistance in gas phase increases with the concentration of non-absorbable gas. However the primary resistance to mass transfer is in the liquid phase. As the concentration of non-absorbable gas in the absorbate increases, the interfacial temperature and concentration of absorbate in solution decrease, which results in the reduction of absorption rate. The reduction of mass transfer rate is found to be significant for the addition of a small amount of non-absorbable gas to the pure vapor, especially at the outlet of tube where the non-absorbable gas accumulates. At higher non-absorbable gas concentration, the decrease of absorption rate seems to be linear to the concentration of non-absorbable gas.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.499-509
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• 1998

In the absorption process of water vapor in a liquid film, the composition of the gas phase, in which a non-absorbable gas is combined with the absorbate influences the transport characteristics remarkably. In the present study, the absorption processes of water vapor into aqueous solution of lithium bromide in the presence of non-absorbable gases were investigated analytically. The continuity, momentum, energy and diffusion equations for the solution film and gas phase were formulated in integral forms and solved numerically. It was found that the mass transfer resistance in gas phase increased with the concentration of non-absorbable gas. However the primary resistance to mass transfer was in the liquid phase. As the concentration of non-absorbable gas in the absorbate increased, the liquid-vapor interfacial temperature and concentration of absorbate in solution decreased, which resulted in the reduction of absorption rate. The reduction of mass transfer rate was found to be significant for the addition of a small amount of non-absorbable gas to the pure vapor, especially at the outlet of an absorber where non-absorbable gases accumulated. At higher non-absorbable gas concentration, the decrease of absorption flux was almost linear to the volumetric concentration of non-absorbable gas.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.489-498
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• 1998

Among the heat/mass exchange units composing an absorption system, the absorber, where the refrigerant vapor is absorbed into the liquid solution is the one least understood. In the present study, the effects of non-absorbable gas on the absorption process of aqueous lithium bromide solution falling film inside a vertical tube were experimentally investigated. In the range of film Reynolds number of 30 ~ 195, heat and mass transfer characteristics were investigated as a function of non-absorbable gas volumetric concentration, 0.2 ~ 20%. An increase of non-absorbable gas volumetric concentration degraded the mass transfer rate dramatically in the absorption process. The reduction of mass transfer rate was significant for the addition of small amount of non-absorbable gas to the pure vapor. At film Reynolds number of 130, an increase of non-absorbable gas concentration from 0.2 to 6.0% resulted in the decrease of mass transfer rate by 36% and 20% of non-absorbable gas by 59%. However the decrease of film Nusselt number with the increase of volumetric concentration of non absorbable gas was relatively smaller than the decrease of Sherwood number. Critical film Reynolds number was identified to exist for the maximum heat and mass transfer regardless of the volumetric concentration of non-absorbable gases.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.581-589
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• 2003

Film absorption involves simultaneous heat and mass transfer in the gas-liquid system. While the non-absorbable gas does not participate directly In the absorption process. its pretence does affect the overall heat and mass transfer. An experimental study was performed to investigate the heat and mass transfer characteristics of LiBr-H$_2$O solution flow ing over 6-row horizontal tubes with the water vapor absorption in the pretence of non-absorbable gases. The volumetric concentration of non-absorbable gas, air, was varied from 0.17 to 10.0%. The combined effects of the solution flow rate and its concentration on the heat and mass transfer coefficients were also examined. The presence of 2％ volumetric concentration of air resulted in a 25% reduction in the Nusselt number and 41% reduction in the Sherwood number Optimum film Reynolds number was found to exist at which the heat and mass transfer reach their maximum value independent of air contents. Reduced Nusselt and Sherwood numbers. defined as the ratio of Nusselt and Sherwood numbers at given non-absorbable gas content to that with pure water vapor, were correlated to account for the reduction in the heat and mass transfer due to non-absorbable gases in a falling film absorption process.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.456-465
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• 1998

Effect of a non-absorbable gas on the absorption process in a vertical tube absorber was investigated numerically. The water vapor mined with air as the non-absorbable gas is absorbed into LiBr/water solution film. The flow is assumed to be laminar and fully developed in both liquid and gas phases. The diffusion and energy equations were solved in both phases to give the temperature and concentrations, from which heat and mass fluxes were determined. It was shown that the local absorption rate decreases as the mass fraction of air in water vapor increases. The vapor pressure of water at the liquid-vapor interface reduces significantly since the non-absorbable gas is accumulated near the interface. The effect of non-absorbable gases on absorption rate becomes larger as the mass flow rate of the vapor decreases. For small amount of non-absorbable gases the total absorption rate of water vapor increases as the mass flow rate of the vapor decreases. Total absorption rate increases as the mass flow rate of the vapor increases for large concentration of non-absorbables at the inlet of an absorber.

• International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration
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• v.7
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• pp.69-78
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• 1999

Effects of a non-absorbable gas on the absorption process in a vertical tube absorber has been investigated numerically. The water vapor mixed with air is absorbed into LiBr/water solution film. The flow is assumed to be laminar and fully developed in both liquid and gas phases. The diffusion and energy equations were solved in both phases to give the temperature and concentrations, from which heat and mass fluxes were determined. The local absorption rate has been shown to decrease as the mass fraction of air in the water vapor increases. The vapor pressure of water at the liquid-vapor is interface reduced significantly since the non-absorbable gas accumulates near the interface. The effects of non-absorbable gases on absorption rate become larger as the mass flow rate of the vapor decreases. For a small amount of non-absorbable gases, the total absorption rate of water vapor increases as the mass flow rate of the vapor decreases. The total absorption rate increases as the mass flow rate of the vapor increases for large concentrations of non-absorbable gases at the inlet of an absorber.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.466-474
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• 1998

In the present study, the improvement of absorption characteristics by installing insert devices, such as spring and wire screen, inside the vertical tube absorber were studied experimentally. Momentum, heat and mass transfer rate in the absolution process of smooth bare tube, smooth tube with spring-insert, and with wire screen-insert were compared and analysed in range of film Reynolds number of 40∼200. The improvement of heat transfer rate by spring-insert and screen-insert were remarkable especially in the low Reynolds number region. As the mesh number increased in screen-insert and as the pitch decreased in spring-insert, Nusselt and Sherwood number increased. Degradation of mass transfer by non-absorbable gas showed similar qualitative trends regardless of the insert type.