Investigation of Heat Transfer in a Large-Scale External Heat Exchanger with Horizontal Smooth Tube Bundle

In the research work, energy transport between a dense fluidized bed and submerged horizontal tube bundle is analyzed in the commercial external heat exchanger (EHE). In order to investigate the heat transfer behavior, the authors carried out eight performance tests in a fluidized bed heat exchange chamber with a cross-section of 2.7 × 2.3 m in depth and width and a height of 1.3 m. The authors have been developing a mechanistic model for the prediction of the average heat transfer coefficient, which includes the effect of the geometric structure of the tube bundle and the location of the heat transfer surface on the heat transfer rate. The computational results depict that the average heat transfer coefficient is essentially affected by superficial gas velocity and suspension density rather than bed particle size. The empirical correlations have been proposed for predicting heat transfer data since the existing literature data is not sufficient for industrial fluidized bed heat exchangers. On the basis of the evaluated operating conditions of an external heat exchanger, the optimal conditions where heat transfer occurs could be deduced. The developed mechanistic heat transfer model is validated by experimental data under the examined conditions.

Experimental Study on Compact External Heat Exchanger for a 4 MWth Circulating Fluidized Bed Combustor

The characteristics of the external heat exchanger (EHE) for a 4 MWth circulation fluidized bed combustor were studied in the present paper. The length, width and height of EHE were 1.5 m, 0.8 m and 9 m, respectively. The circulating ash flow passing the heating surface bed could be controlled by adjusting the fluidizing air flow and the heating transferred from the circulating ash to the cooling water. The ash flow rate passing through the heat transfer bed was from 0.4 to 2.2 kg/s. The ash average temperature was from 500 to 750 °C. And the heat transfer rate between the ash and the cooling water was between 150 and 300 W/(m2·°C). The relationships among the circulating ash temperature, the heat transfer, heat transfer rate, the heat transfer coefficient and the circulating ash flow passing through the heating exchange cell were also presented and could be used for further commercial EHE design.

Investigation on Heat Transfer Performance of External Heat Exchanger for Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler

A heat transfer model of external heat exchanger (EHE) in large-scale circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boiler was suggested based on experiment data and theoretical analysis. And the model parameters were also provided. With this model, the heat transfer performance of the EHE in an actual operating 300MW CFB boiler was predicted. The comparison between the model predictive results and the actual results showed that the relative error is less than 7%. This indicated that the model established in this paper is reliable and can provide a significant reference in EHE of large-scale CFB boiler design.