Main Difference between Regenerator and recuperator

Two main types of heat exchangers exist, differing in using an intermediate storage or direct
transfer of heat.
In a regenerator heat from the primary medium is first stored in a thermal mass and later (next
cycle) regenerated from that mass by the secondary medium. The thermal mass can be the wall
material of the flow ducts or a porous medium, through which alternating the primary and the
secondary flow is led.
In a recuperator both media are separated by a wall through which heat is transferred directly.
Further split systems are used in which an intermediate medium carries heat from the primary
medium in a first heat exchanger to the secondary medium in a second heat exchanger.
The regenerator has a serious disadvantage as the heat has to diffuse in and out of the
intermediate storage material, hereby loosing exergy as the heat front in the flow direction is
flattened and not all heat can be regenerated. Further the intermediate storage material (mostly
the wall of the flow ducts) needs to be a good heat conductor for the storage function, which
causes high heat conduction in the flow direction, inducing a considerable loss of effectiveness
(<<90%).
In a recuperator the only fundamental loss is the heat conduction through the wall in the flow
direction, which however can be reduced to less than a per mille by using material with low heat
conductivity like plastics.
To obtain the required effectiveness only a recuperator can be used.
Economizer

In the case of boiler systems, an economizer can be provided to utilize the flue gas heat for pre-
heating the boiler feed water. On the other hand, in an air pre-heater, the waste heat is used to
heat combustion air. In both the cases, there is a corresponding reduction in the fuel requirements
of the boiler.
For every 220 0C reduction in flue gas temperature by passing through an economizer or a pre-
heater, there is 1% saving of fuel in the boiler. In other words, for every 60 0C rise in feed water
temperature through an economizer, or 200 0C rise in combustion air temperature through an air
pre-heater, there is 1% saving of fuel in the boiler
(Economizer) Shell and tube heat exchanger

• Used when the medium that contains waste heat is a liquid or a vapor that heats
another liquid, then the shell and tube heat exchanger must be used since both paths
must be sealed to contain the pressures of their respective fluids.
• The shell contains the tube bundle and usually internal baffles to direct the fluid in
the shell over the tubes in multiple passes. The shell is inherently weaker than the
tubes so that the higher-pressure fluid is circulated in the tubes while the lower
pressure fluid flows through the shell.
When a vapor contains the waste heat, it usually condenses and thereby gives up its latent heat to
the liquid being heated. In this application, the vapor is almost invariably contained within the
shell. If the reverse is attempted, the condensation of vapors within small diameter parallel tubes
causes flow instabilities. Tube and shell heat exchangers are available in a wide range of
standard sizes with many combinations of materials for the tubes and shells.

Plate Heat Exchanger

• The cost of heat exchange surfaces is a major cost factor when the temperature
differences are not large. One way of meeting this problem is the plate type heat
exchanger. This consists of a series of separate parallel plates forming thin flow pass.
Each plate is separated from the next by gaskets. The hot stream passes in parallel
through alternative plates whilst the liquid to be heated passes in parallel between the hot
plates.
• To improve heat transfer the plates are corrugated.
• Hot liquid passing through a bottom port in the head is permitted to pass upwards
between every second plate while cold liquid at the top of the head is permitted to pass
downwards between the odd plates. When the directions of hot and cold fluids are
opposite, the arrangement is described as counter current.
• Typical industrial applications for the plate heat exchanger are pasteurisation section in
milk packaging plant and evaporation plants in food industry.
 Run around coil exchanger

✓ The run around coil exchanger is quite similar in principle to the heat pipe exchanger.
The heat from hot fluid is transferred to the colder fluid via an intermediate fluid known
as the “heat transfer fluid”.
✓ One coil of this closed loop is installed in the hot stream while the other is in the cold
stream. Circulation of this fluid is maintained by means of la circulating pump.
✓ Typical industrial applications are heat recovery from ventilation, air conditioning and
low temperature heat recovery.
 Heat Pipe

• The heat pipe comprises of three elements: a sealed container, a capillary wick structure
and a working fluid. The capillary wick structure is integrally fabricated into the interior
surface of the container tube and sealed under vacuum.

• A heat pipe can transfer up to 100 times more thermal energy than copper, the best-
known conductor.
• In other words, heat pipe is a thermal energy absorbing and transferring system that has
no moving parts and hence require minimum maintenance.
• Thermal energy applied to the external surface of the heat pipe is in equilibrium with its
own vapour as the container tube is sealed under vacuum.
• Thermal energy applied to the external surface of the heat pipe causes the working fluid
near the surface to evaporate instantaneously.
• The vapour absorbs the latent heat of vaporization and this part of the heat pipe becomes
an evaporator region.
• The vapour then travels to the other end the pipe where the thermal energy is removed
causing the vapour to condense into liquid again, thereby giving up the latent heat of the
condensation.
• This part of the heat pipe works as the condenser region. The condensed liquid then flows
back to the evaporated region.
 • The heat pipe exchanger is a lightweight compact heat recovery system.
• It virtually does not need mechanical maintenance, as there are no moving parts to wear
out.
• It does not need input power for its operation and is free from cooling water and
lubrication systems.
• It also lowers the fan horsepower requirement and increases the overall thermal
efficiency of the system
• The heat pipe heat recovery systems are capable of operating at 315oC. with 60% to 80%
heat recovery capability.

Heat Pipe:Typical application

The heat pipes are used in following industrial applications:

• First, process to space heating, where the heat pipe heat exchanger transfers the thermal
energy from process exhaust for building heating. The preheated air can be blended if
required. The requirement of additional heating equipment to deliver heated make up air
is drastically reduced or eliminated.
• Second, process to process where the heat pipe heat exchangers recover waste thermal
energy from the process exhaust and transfer this energy to the incoming process air. The
incoming air thus become warm and can be used for the same process/other processes
and reduces process energy consumption.
• HVAC Applications:
– Cooling: Heat pipe heat exchangers pre-cools the building make up air in summer
and thus reduces the total tones of refrigeration, apart from the operational saving
of the cooling system. Thermal energy is supply recovered from the cool exhaust
and transferred to the hot supply make up air.
– Heating: The above process is reversed during winter to preheat the make up air.
 Waste heat boiler

✓ Waste heat boilers are ordinarily water tube boilers in which the hot exhaust gases from
gas turbines, incinerators, etc pass over a number of parallel tubes that contain water. The
water is vaporized in the tubes and collected in a steam drum from which it is drawn off
for use as heating or processing steam.
✓ This figure illustrates a mud drum and a steam drum. A mud drum is a set of tubes over
which the hot gases make a double pass. A steam drum collects the steam generated
above the water surface. The pressure at which the steam is generated and the rate of
steam production depends on the temperature of waste heat. The pressure of a pure vapor
in the presence of its liquid is a function of the temperature of the liquid from which it is
evaporated.
✓ Waste heat boilers are built in capacities from 25 m3 almost 30,000 m3 /min. of exhaust
gas.

Heat Pump

• The heat pump was developed as a space heating system where low temperature energy
from the ambient air, water, or earth is raised to heating system temperatures by doing
compression work with an electric motor-driven compressor.
• The heat pump has the ability to upgrade heat to a value more than twice that of the
energy consumed by the device. The potential for application of heat pump is growing
and number of industries have been benefited by recovering low grade waste heat by
upgrading it and using it in the main process stream.
• Heat pump applications are most promising when both the heating and cooling
capabilities can be used in combination. One example of this is a plastics factory where
chilled water from a heat is used to cool injection-moulding machines whilst the heat
output from the heat pump is used to provide factory or office heating. Other examples
include product drying, maintaining dry atmosphere for storage and drying compressed
air.