Boiling Heat Transfer Coefficients in a Falling Film Helical Coil Heat Exchanger for the NH3–LiNO3 Mixture

Abstract

This paper reports the experimental data of boiling heat transfer coefficients for the ammonia–lithium nitrate mixture in a laminar falling film. The analyzed heat exchanger consists of a shell with an internal helical coil. More than one hundred test runs were carried out in steady-state conditions to determine the boiling heat transfer coefficients at generation temperatures, concentrations, and mass flow rates typical of absorption cooling systems of capacities between 5 and 10 kW. Ammonia vapor was produced at generation temperatures between 80 °C and 105 °C obtaining boiling heat transfer coefficients between 85 and 340 W/m2K. Semi-empirical correlations were used by diverse authors to correlate the experimental data. A new correlation was proposed with which the best adjustments were obtained. Also, the influence of the heat flux, the refrigerant solution mass flow rates, and the exit vapor qualities were analyzed in the boiling heat transfer coefficients.