Evaluation of the thermodynamic effectiveness of a plate heat exchanger integrated into an experimental single stage heat transformer operating with Water/Carrol mixture

•Thermodynamical methods for heat exchanger effectiveness were described.•Water/Carrol mixture was analyzed into an experimental absorption heat transformer.•Similar plate heat exchanger effectiveness values were obtained for both methods with experimental conditions.•Single stage heat transformer’s coefficients of performance were calculate with and without economizer. This paper analyzes the effectiveness of a Plate Heat Exchanger (PHE) used as an economizer integrated into an experimental Single Stage Heat Transformer (SSHT). The heat exchanger effectiveness (η), sometimes referred as thermal efficiency, is an important parameter for the design of heat transfer equipment. Two thermodynamic methods for η evaluation are shown. The overall heat transfer coefficient (U) and the individual convective heat transfer coefficients (h) were calculated for Water/Carrol mixture. Four SSHT experimental tests runs were carried out, in order to evaluate the η. The economizer effectiveness ranged from 0.69 to 0.71. Finally, the η effect for Coefficient of Performance (COP) is shown as a function of absorber temperature.