The influence of a vertical chevron corrugated plate on wetting and thermal performance of a detachable plate-type falling film absorber

•1. The vertical chevron corrugated plate for absorption system is proposed.•2. The thermal performance of the absorber with this plate is carried out.•3. The overall heat transfer coefficient rises to 0.983 kW·m−2·K−1.•4. The mass flux of vapor absorbed rises to 1.9 × 10−3 kg·m−2·s−1.•5. The empirical correlations of convective heat transfer are fitted respectively. The absorption system utilizing LiBr/H2O as working fluids plays an increasingly important role in district heating. However, the heat transfer of the existing systems is mainly through the shell-and-tube structure, resulting in the system’s vast land occupation. A detachable plate-type falling film absorber is proposed to address the problem. The type and geometry of the plate utilized in this system are designed in this paper. The vertical chevron corrugated plate is proposed to improve the wetting performance in the negative pressure channel and enhance the heat transfer performance of the water in the positive pressure channel. The thermal performance experiment of the system with this plate is carried out under the absorption-evaporation condition. Under the rated condition, the overall heat transfer coefficient of absorption process rises to 0.983 kW·m−2·K−1, and the mass flux of vapor absorbed rises to 1.9 × 10−3 kg·m−2·s−1. Moreover, the overall heat transfer coefficient of the plate falling film absorption process is split, and the empirical correlations of convective heat transfer on the water side and the solution side are fitted respectively. The thermal performance improvement further improves the feasibility of miniaturization of the absorption system.