Design of welded chevron plate heat exchanger: application of recuperator in LiBr-water absorption systems

As applications of the heat pump and refrigeration, thermally-driven absorption systems which use the lithium bromide and water pair have been widely utilized in various industrial fields since the waste heat can be used directly to obtain the desired effects. A recuperator preheats a working fluid, which enters a generator in the absorption system, decreasing the required heating load. The present study addresses the optimum design of the welded-plate-type heat exchanger as an application of the recuperator. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) predicted the flow characteristics through chevron plate heat exchangers of different structural dimensions; based on the predictions, optimized dimensions in terms of the heat transfer rate and friction factor was selected. Then, four headers using the selected dimensions were investigated by the CFD technique for selecting the desired plate heat exchanger. Experimental investigations were conducted on the selected configuration as well, and the results were compared with those of the CFD simulation.