Heat transfer characteristics of plate absorber for compression/absorption hybrid heat pump application.

In recent years, large amount of low-temperature waste heat exists in industrial sectors. Heat pump system can be used to utilize the low-temperature waste heat. The heat pump system in this research is based on the hybrid combination of compression and absorption systems in order to recover various kinds of industrial waste heat effectively. The absorber is a major component in the compression/absorption hybrid systems and its performance greatly affects the overall system performance. The objective of this paper is to analyze the heat transfer characteristics for ammonia-water absorption process within plate heat exchangers which can be used as an absorber in the hybrid heat pump systems. The absorber is an important component in the hybrid heat pump systems, and its performance affects the system performance significantly. Parametric analysis is carried out experimentally in the absorption process of the bubble type absorber. This study investigates the effects of the absorber internal pressure change and the plate absorber geometric conditions on the absorber capacity and COP. From the present experimental study, it is found that the maximum hot water temperature can be made as high as 80°C.