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Experimental study on the on-line cleaning system influencing the heat transfer performance of shell-tube heat exchanger

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Abstract

Fouling resistance has an obvious effect on the heat transfer performance of shell-tube heat exchangers, among all kinds of cleaning methods, rubber ball on line automatic cleaning system is a new and effective method. In this paper, an experimental device is built and installed a rubber ball online cleaning system based on a gas-fired lithium bromide absorption-refrigerating unit, the influence of cleaning on the heat transfer performance of shell-tube condenser and the coefficient of performance (COP) of direct-fired unit was experimentally studied. The results show that the fouling resistance increases while the COP decreases with the increase of the running time when the rubber ball online cleaning system without works. The ball percentage, running time and start / stop ratio of on-line cleaning system have significant effects on fouling resistance. When the ball percentage is 10%, 20%, and 30%, respectively, the thermal resistance increases by 32.8%, 20.8% and 8.9%, respectively. As the running time increases from 20 s, 40 s to 60 s, respectively, the thermal resistance increases by -20.8%, 17.9% and 10.7%, respectively. When the start/stop ratio is set at 1:1, 1:2 and 1:3, respectively, the thermal resistance increases by 16.1%, 23.0% and 29.0%, respectively. On comprehensive consideration of cleaning effect and energy consumption, it is recommended that the percentage of ball is 20%, the service pump operates for 60 s and stops for 120 s, and the start-stop ratio is 1:2. For the minimum operating cost, an interval cleaning mode is recommended, and the optimal cleaning interval is 28 h, the optimal cleaning time is 8 h.

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Abbreviations

\({m}_{c}\) :

Cooling water flow rate (m3/s)

\({t}_{c,out}\) :

Outlet temperature of cooling water(℃)

\({t}_{c,in}\) :

Inlet temperature of cooling water(℃)

\({c}_{p}\) :

Specific heat of water at constant pressure(J/(kg·℃)

\({\mathrm{T}}_{\mathrm{wf}}\) :

Interface temperature between the heat exchange surface and the fouling

\({\mathrm{T}}_{\mathrm{s}}\) :

Fouling surface temperature

q:

Heat flow density, J/(m2·s).

V:

Cooling water velocity, (m/s)

ρ:

The fluid density, (kg/m3)

\({m}_{ch}\) :

Chilled water flow rate (m3/s)

\({t}_{ch,out}\) :

Outlet temperature of chilled water (℃)

\({t}_{ch,in}\) :

Inlet temperature of chilled water (℃)

B:

Natural gas fuel consumption, (m3/s)

H:

Calorific value of natural gas (kJ/m3)

\({Q}_{ch}\) :

Heat released by chilled water (kW)

\({Q}_{gas}\) :

Input heat of a gas combustion, (kW)

Pt:

The number of years in which the cumulative discounted value is positive (year)

h:

Convective heat transfer coefficient between the cooling water and the surface of the heat exchange tube (W/(m2∙K)

a:

Absolute value of accumulated discounted value of the previous year \(\left(\yen \right)\)

b:

Discount value of net cash flow of the year \(\left(\yen \right)\)

∆y:

Absolute error of indirect measured value

y:

Indirect measured value

f:

The functional relationship between indirect and direct measured value

\({\Delta t}_{m}\) :

Logarithmic mean temperature difference (K)

\({R}_{f}\) :

Fouling resistance (m2.K/W)

\({\mathrm{M}}_{1}\) :

The increased operating costs due to fouling \(\left(\yen \right)\)

\({\mathrm{M}}_{2}\) :

The running cost of chiller \(\left(\yen \right)\)

\({\mathrm{M}}_{3}\) :

The reduced operating cost of cleaning device \(\left(\yen \right)\)

\({\mathrm{M}}_{4}\) :

Electricity charge of service pump \(\left(\yen \right)\)

\({\mathrm{M}}_{5}\) :

The increased cost due to the replacement of rubber balls

\({\tau }_{1}\) :

Cleaning interval (h)

\({\tau }_{2}\) :

Operating time (h)

\({\mathrm{P}}_{\mathrm{r}}\) :

Service pump power (kW)

\({c}_{e}\) :

Electricity price, \(\yen\)/kWh

\({c}_{b}\) :

Total price of rubber ball \(\left(\yen \right)\)

\({l}_{b}\) :

Service life of rubber ball (h)

\({P}_{t}^{^{\prime}}\) :

Dynamic payout period (year)

\({\mathrm{x}}_{\mathrm{i}}\) :

The i-th direct measured value

\({Q}_{c}\) :

Total heat absorption of cooling water in absorber and condenser (W)

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51876137).

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51876137).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tianjin Key Lab. of Indoor Air Environmental Quality Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China

    Shuo Ma, Shilei Lu, Hongting Ma, Dandan Ma & Hongkuan Zhang

  2. Tianjin Key Laboratory of Built Environment and Energy Application, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China

    Shilei Lu, Hongting Ma & Hongkuan Zhang

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  1. Shuo Ma
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  2. Shilei Lu
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  3. Hongting Ma
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Correspondence to Hongting Ma.

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Ma, S., Lu, S., Ma, H. et al. Experimental study on the on-line cleaning system influencing the heat transfer performance of shell-tube heat exchanger. Heat Mass Transfer 58, 1897–1911 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-022-03207-0

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