Design and Construction of an Air Cooled Ammonia Absorber

This paper presents the design criteria, methodology. and results of the basic and detailed engineering for a descending film ammonia absorber using air cooled finned tubes, which is part of an advanced absorption cooling system (solar generator absorber heat exchange cycle). The design consists in determining all the construction parameters for the air cooled ammonia absorption unit, starting with the operating conditions defined by a thermodynamical simulation of the process considering both physical and operational design restrictions. The chosen option was based on a comparison between the advantages and disadvantages of each possible array, type, and geometry. After performing the operational simulation, thermal and mechanical designs, and the consistency analysis, it was found that an absorption unit using 29 5/8 NPT 14 (BWG) steel carbon ASTM A-179 tubes, with pure SB-234 aluminum fins was the best option. The tubes are arranged in an equilateral triangle fashion, with crossed air flow cooling.