The analytical tools developed for this project allow performance simulation of numerous organic absorbents for water. Coupled with the usual requirements of low toxicity, flammability and acceptable working pressures, the initial list of over a thousand candidates was reduced to 10 candidate absorbents, that now must be tested. The simultaneous heat and mass transfer process occurring around a bubble during absorption were rigorously modeled. A practical bubble absorber, based on existing tubing and with a minimum of welded joints was developed to meet the demands of a compact heat pump design. An experimental search in an apparatus developed to the effect of precisely measuring additive performance.
Additives are chemical compounds that enhance absorption rates.
The promise of some additive binary mixtures was shown by this research. The sponsoring company has retained the right to license one of the mixtures identified by this work. The first step towards predicting horizontal tube absorber performance is the modeling of a column of tubes. This project modeled a simple absorber configuration, for nine advanced surfaces. The absorption process was analyzed by means of coupled ordinary differential equations.