A detachable plate falling film generator and condenser coupling using lithium bromide and water as working fluids

•A detachable plate falling film heat and mass exchanger coupling is proposed.•The coupling can be either generator-condenser or absorber-evaporator.•Heat transfer coefficient of prototype generator varied between 0.345 and 0.660 kW/ (m2•°C).•Heat transfer coefficient of prototype condenser varied between 0.627 and 0.731 kW/ (m2•°C). A novel detachable plate falling film heat and mass exchanger (HMX) coupling using lithium bromide and water as working fluids is proposed, with both maintainability and compactness taken into account and a prototype built. The HMX coupling can be applied as either a generator and condenser coupling, or an absorber and evaporator coupling in an absorption heat pump using water as refrigerant. The prototype, working as generator and condenser coupling, was evaluated and analyzed experimentally. In a sensitivity study of the operating variables of generator, heat transfer coefficient of the generator varied between 0.345 kW/ (m2·K) and 0.660 kW/ (m2·K), while the mass transfer coefficient of the generator was between 2.7 × 10−5 m/s to 7.8 × 10−5 m/s. The heat transfer coefficient of the condenser varied from 0.627 kW/ (m2·K) to 0.731 kW/ (m2·K), and the minimum generation rate of the designed condenser to maximize its heat transfer capability is 3.85 g/s.