A numerical model which simulates the simultaneous heat and mass transfer within vertical tube generators and absorbers of ammonia/water absorption heat pumps was developed. The liquid and gas phases were assumed to be fully developed laminar flow and...
A numerical model which simulates the simultaneous heat and mass transfer within vertical tube generators and absorbers of ammonia/water absorption heat pumps was developed. The liquid and gas phases were assumed to be fully developed laminar flow and turbulent flow, respectively. Two-dimensional diffusion and energy equations were determined. Coolant temperature was obtained from one-dimensional energy equation which considers the heat transfer from the liquid film through the wall. The model was applied to a GAX generator and a GAX absorber to investigate the desorption and absorption rates, temperature and concentration profiles, and mass flow rates of liquid and vapor phases. It was shown that the mass transfer rate of ammonia dominates that of water except the regions near the inlets of liquid and vapor. Both desorption rate of the generator and absorption rate of the absorber increase rapidly neat the liquid inlet and decrease slowly.