Experimental Research of Thermo-Hydraulic Separators and Dispatchers in Heat Supply Systems

Abstract

This article is concerned with the research of thermos-hydraulic separators and dispatchers (THD) in heat supply systems and focuses on the experimental part of the research. Тhe experiments allowed to develop the ANSYS Fluent model in terms of accuracy and veracity. The developed model allows to predict operation of THD in different regimes. The results may be used for designing the systems with THD. Such systems may be low temperature district heating systems, where THD allow to hydraulically separate the circuits from each other.

Hydraulic and thermal characterization of a family of thermo-hydraulic separators

“…Thermal stratification is often claimed to be a positive, yet qualitative, feature for a thermal-hydraulic separator device [25,19]. The proposed stratification index SI, Eq.…”

“…The characterization of thermal-hydraulic separators connecting a number of heat consumers networks to the heat source (see, e.g. [25]) would possibly require to define more than a single parameter , depending on several flow ratios , but the underlying idea of relating the simple, phenomenological model used for design purposes to the true behavior of a thermal-hydraulic separator, still handle low-Reynolds number flows and near-wall flows [2] used in the standard k model. The turbulent viscosity is then modified to account for the effect of intense swirl, correcting thereof a known inconsistency of eddy-viscosity models that makes them insensitive to the streamline curvature and to the system rotation [20]…”

“…Yavorovsky et al [25] report on a combined experimental and numerical investigation on a THS, confirming that the connected secondary circuits are hydraulically separated from each other.…”

“…Results of a mesh-sensitivity study are reported in Appendix B. The proposed numerical model is validated by comparison against experimental data available in [25] (Appendix C).…”

Investigation of thermohydraulic dispatcher properties and peculiarities

“…So, experimental research and numerical simulation of thermohydraulic dispatcher were conducted to get better understanding of THD properties and peculiarities. The initial stage of the research was published in [6].…”