A simple algorithm to simulate the transient behaviour of a vapour compression heat pump is described. Individual models are developed for various components of the heat pump such as compressor, evaporator, condenser and expansion valve. The components are simulated separately and are combined to form the total system. The compressor is a hermetically sealed, reciprocating piston type with adiabatic compression, the evaporator and condenser are coiled copper tubes, and the expansion valve is assumed to be adiabatic. The transport and thermodynamic properties of the refrigerant used are obtained from empirical equations. The total system is viewed in a simplified manner in order to apply the results of this transient analysis to the behaviour of a chemical process operation, namely, distillation.
KEY WORDS
Heat pumpHeat pump assisted distillation Transient analysis Simulation
A model to simulate the transient behaviour of a heat pump assisted distillation column is presented. The packed bed distillation column is treated as a distributed parameter system with time and space as independent parameters. The column modelling using appropriate basic equations, their application to binary systems, the solution scheme to the model equations and the distillation column simulation algorithm are described. The heat pump simulation algorithm is then coupled with this algorithm and the column transient behaviour with and without heat pump assist is obtained. The results are compared with earlier steady state data in the literature.
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