| Abstract: | 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 |
