TEMPERATURE WAVES METHOD FOR MODELING REGENERATIVE HEAT EXCHANGERS

Regenerative heat exchangers have a large surface area per unit volume and low cost, compared with other types of heat exchangers. The complexity of their proper design and optimization is one of the reasons why these devices are not widely used. The article describes a temperature-wave approach to the modeling of heat regenerators. The verification of the novel temperature wave's model was held by the experimental data of the regenerator used in ventilation systems. The temperature waves method for computation of a heat regenerator makes it possible to take into account the influence of the following factors: the variable gas temperature at the regenerator's inlet, processes of non-stationary heat conduction in the elements of packing, the longitudinal thermal conductivity of the packing. Despite a complex mathematical apparatus used to justify the method of temperature waves for designing regenerators, the very procedure for calculating such a heat exchanger has proven to be relatively simple and convenient for computer calculations.