LECUTRE32:Steadystateheatflowinfurnacesandheatexchangers

Contents
Estimationofheatlossesinfurnaces
Heatexchanger
Performanceofaheatexchanger
Regenerator
Keywords:Heatexchanger,Regenerator,Recuperator,Heatrecovery,Furnaces

Estimationofheatlossesinfurnaces
Infurnacesoperatingathightemperatures,heatlossesfromtheouterwalloftheshellareimportantto
estimate,whenthefurnaceoperatesatsteadystate.Theselossescorrespondtolossinenergy.Inorder
to estimate the heat losses, wall temperature should be known. Shell temperature can either be
calculated or measured. In the following lecture a method is discussed to calculate the shell
temperatureofthefurnace.
Consider wall of the furnace at temperatureT which is lined with refractory material of thickness ,
thermalconductivityK asshowninthefigure.
1
x
av
w w
Q
Cond
= Q
Conv
+ Q
Rad

Figure32.1:Furnacewallshowingheatbalance
SurroundingtemperatureisT .LettheshelltemperaturefacingthesurroundingisT .T isunknown.
Heatbalanceofthefurnaceis
[Heatflowbyconductiontotheoutershell=Heatlossfromtheshelltothesurroundingbyconvection
andradiation](1)
.(2)
= h
c
A (T
w
- T

) + S.67 F e A _[
T
v
100
K
AV
A(T
1
-T
v
)
Ax

4
- [
T

100

4

c
c
_(3)
h isheattransfercoefficientfornaturalconvection.Fisviewfactor,eisemissivityoftheshellandAis
theareaofthefurnace.Heattransfercoefficienth
h
c
= C [
AT
D
canbeevaluatedby
u.2S
Heatexchanger
Heat exchanger, as the name indicates is an equipment used to capture the heat of products of
A recuperator is a continuous type of heat exchanger in which both hot and cold streams flow

Figure32.2:Typesofrecuperator(a)parallelflow,(b)countercurrentand(c)crossflow
Another type of heat exchanger for high temperature purposes is the regenerator. A regenerator
(a)Continuousgasflow,movingelementforheatstorageand
(b)Intermittentgasflow,stationaryheatstorageelement.
(4)
combustion and to preheat the air simultaneously. Recuperators and regenerators are commonly used
tocaptureandreusetheheat.
continuously.Bothstreamsareseparatedbyawall.Transferofheatfromhotstreamtocoldstreamis
through the separating wall. Both streams may flow parallel flow as shown in figure (a) or counter
current (as shown in b) or cross flow (as in c). Metallic heat exchangers are used at low temperatures
whereasceramicheatexchangerscanbeusedathightemperatures

contains heat storage elements which alternately absorb heat from hot products of combustion and
preheattheincomingair.Twotypesofregeneratorsareinuse:
Inthecontinuousgasflowtypethetwogasstreamsflowcontinuouslythroughowncompartmentsand
the heat storage elements move from hot stream to cold stream. They are normally constructed of
metalandareprimarilyusedforlowtemperaturelikeboiler.
For high temperature applications, the regenerator contains stationary heat storage elements. It
consists of a chamber filled with brick chequework to give a multiple vertical gas passage. The hot
productsofcombustionandcoldairflowalternatelythroughthesamechamberandsamepassageina
cyclicfashion.
Inalltheabovetypesofheatexchangers,theresidenceofthestreamisimportantfortheheattransfer
efficiency which is turn controlled by the flow rate of the stream, cross section area of the vessel and
thermalconductivityofthematerial

Performanceofaheatexchanger
A heat exchanger captures and uses the heat of flue gases simultaneously. Performance of a heat
exchanger can be evaluated in terms of its ability to capture and to preheat the air to the maximum
possibletemperature.
ConsideracoaxialtypeheatexchangerinwhichhotstreamentersatT andexitsatT .Coldstream
sayairentersattemperatureT andpreheatedstreamexistsatT asshowninthefigure.
h
1
h
2
c
1
c
2
i) Flowoffluegasesandairareatsteadystate.

Figure32.3:Heatexchangerunderconsiderationformacroscopicheatbalance
LengthoftheheatexchangerisL.Macroscopicheatbalancecanbeusedtoevaluatetheperformance.
Inthemacroscopicbalance,weareconcernedwiththeinitialandfinalstatesofthefluegasandairi.e.
atplane1and2.
Assumptions:
ii) Flowisadiabaticwhichmeansnolossofheat,whichmeansheatlostbyfluegasis

Q
h
= -Q
c
, i. e.(5)
HeatlostbyfluegasQ
h
= m
h
(B
h2
- B
h1
)(6)
c
= m
c
(B
c2
-B
c1
)
h c
atcontentinhotand
h c
flowrateofhotandcoldstream
an
completelyabsorbedbyair
HeattakenbyairQ (7)
Q andQ arehe coldstream,m andm mass
d is eenthalpy.
Thereisnoheatlossto
th
surrounding,so
oridealga sandincompressiblefluidsB = C
P
T
(8)
m
c
C
p
c
(T
c2
-T
c1
) = Q
c
Heatbalanceoveralengthulofh
m C uT = 0 (2 i ) (T
c
- T )ul.(10)
i
0
= outsiue iauius of the innei tube.
0
0
= ovei all heat tianfei coefficient
0
0
isanoverallcoefficientforheatflowpathconsistingofaseriesofthermalresistancessuchthat
0
0
= [
1
Q
h
= -Q
c
.
F se
m
h
C
p
h
(T
h2
-T
h1
) = Q
h

= -Q
h
(9)
eatexchanger
h P
h
h 0 0 h
+
Ax
+
1
h
1
K h
2

-1
(11)
Here
1
h
1
and
1
h
2
areconvectivethermalresistanceand
Ax
K
isthermalresistanceofthewallofthicknessx
andofthermalconductivi ofequations9and10gives
c h
tyKduetoconduction.Rearrangement
=

h P
h
0
0
2 r
0
dI
M C
(12)
d T
h
T -T
And
d T
c
T
c
-T
h
= 0
0
2 r
0
dI
M
c
C

c
(13)
gequations12and3 Addin
-
d (T
h
-T
c
)
T
h
-T
c
= 0
0
_
m
h
C

h
1
+
1
m
h
C

c
] (2 i
0
)ul(14)
Byassuming0
0
asindependentoflandintegratingoverthelengthlweget.
ln [
T
h1
-T
c1
T
h2
-T
c2
= 0
0
_
1
m
h
C

h
+
1
m
c
C

c
] 2 i
0
l
la rates and heat exchanger
dimensions.
Itcanbeusedtodescribetheperformance 9and15
i
0
L) _
h2 c2
)
h1 c1
In
(T
h2
- T
c2
)
(T
h1
-T
c1
)
(15)
Expression re tes terminal temperatures of the heat exchanger to stream
oftheexchangerByequation8,
Q = 0
0
(2
(T - T -(T -T )
_(16)
= 0
0
A
0
(T
h
- T
c
)ln(17)
Theequations16and17describethera tionoftheterminaltemperaturesofthe
heatexchangeranddonotcontainthemannerinwhichstreamsareflowing.Therefore,theequations
16or17aregeneralequationstoevaluatetheperformanceoftheheatexchanger

ot strictly applicable.
ormostengineeringapplications,aregeneratorcanbeconsideredintermsofheatflowanalogoustoa
continuousrecuperatoras
hot flue gas - biick suiface - conuuction thiough biick - biick - aii
mperature to eliminate time. By this analogy brick surfaces are at higher
mperatureduringfluegascyclethanduringcoldgascycleandtemperaturedifferencecorrespondsto
that across the separating wall in a recuperator. Also heat flow in and out om brick is equivalent to
sistancetoheatflowacrosstheseparatingwallinarecuperator.Withthisanalogywecandefinethe
verallheattransfercoefficientasapplicabletoregeneratoras
teofheatflowasafunc
Applicationtoregenerator
Regenerators are unsteady heat flow system to which steady state heat, flow is n
F

and to deal with average te

te
fr
re
o

0
0
=
1
1
h
fIue gas
+[
A5
K

eq
+
1
h
a
(18)
Intheequation18
h
fIuc gas
andh
aIr
arehe bricksurfaceandfrombricksurfacetoair
respectively.[
AS
K
attransfercoefficientfromfluegasto

cq
isthethermalresistanceoftheseparatingwallwhichisanalogoustothatofbrickin
Estimat [
K
theregenerator.
ion of
AS
is relatively difficult to estimate in unsteady state flow. The equivalent thermal
resistancevaries ththethicknessofthebrickandthetimeofcontact.Itscontributionis15to2u%of
the total resistance
cq
wi
to flow of heat from hot to cold stream. Equation 17 can be used for regenerators
keepinginmindtheabovelimitations.