NUMERICAL STUDIES ON VERTICAL TUBULAR GENERATOR IN VAPOR ABSORPTION REFRIGERATION SYSTEM

A model has been developed based on Colburn-Drew type formulation to analyze a vertical tube in tube stainless steel generator with forced convective boiling. Desorption of refrigerant vapor from refrigerant-absorbent solution takes place in the inner tube of the generator, when hot water through the annulus is used as heating medium. Simultaneous heat and mass transfer phenomena of desorption are described mathematically using the mass and energy balances, considering the heat and mass transfer resistances in liquid as well as vapor phases. Model equations are solved simultaneously by means of initial value problem solvers using explicit Runge-Kutta method with 4th order accuracy. A computer code has been developed in MATLAB to obtain the results. A parametric analysis has also been performed to study the effect of various parameters on the performance of the generator.