A MultiObjective Comprehensive Evaluation of Heat Transfer Performance of a DirectContact Heat Exchanger

Abstract

Directcontact heat exchangers have great potential for wasteheat utilization. This study established a multiobjective evaluation model of the volumetric heattransfer coefficient, entransy dissipation, and uniformity of the temperature difference field of the directcontact heat exchanger. The optimal operating parameters for the heat exchanger were obtained by experimentally investigating the relationship between the operating parameters and the volumetric heattransfer coefficient, entransy dissipation, and uniformity of the temperature difference field. The results indicated that the smaller the entransy, the greater the effectiveness of the heat exchanger in the directcontact heat exchanger. The results also indicated that the volumetric heattransfer coefficient increased with the increase in the flowrate ratio and initial temperature difference. The study found that entransy demonstrated the smallest dissipation and the largest effectiveness of the heat exchanger when the initial temperature difference was 120 °C and the flow ratio was 6:1. This study has guiding significance for the optimal design of directcontact heat exchangers.