Research On Heat Transfer Performance On Snake Loop Heat Pipe In Chemical Reactor

A new style of heat pipe chemical reactor is put forward for the first time in this thesis. It is called Snake Loop Heat Pipe (SLHP) chemical reactor. It has been used in the process of Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether's (MTBE) production. It is based on controlling the reaction temperature of the bed in the chemical reactor by using the loop heat pipe technology. This style of heat pipe chemical reactor is an innovation of the heat pipe chemical reactor according to engineering application, as well as a new extension of the technology of the heat pipe chemical reactor.The contents of this thesis mainly consist of three sections. Firstly, the study is on the two-phase flow inside the snake tube of the evaporator of SLHP. And secondly, the study is on the performance of heat transfer outside the snake tube of the evaporator of SLHP in the chemical reactor. Thirdly, the study is the numerical and experimental simulation on that the temperature field of the bed in the snake loop heat pipe chemical reactor.First, a series of visual experiments on the two-phase flow inside the tube of the evaporator of SLHP were conducted. It can be concluded that the model of the two-phase flow inside the tube of the evaporator of SLHP, included single-phase flow, dispersed bubble flow, plug and slug flow and layered flow, is in accord with it inside the level tube on the whole. The difference is the location of the model of flow that is occurred. In addition, through visual experiments of various structured evaporator section of SLHP, the fact is found that the startup performance of SLHP can be improved if the tilt angle of the level section of the snake tube is changed slightly. On the above foundation, improvements are made on the structure of SLHP in the heat pipe chemical reactor.Second, the study, on the performance of heat transfer outside the snake tube of the evaporator section of SLHP that is imbedded porous media in the chemical reactor, is carried out. Through the theoretical and experimental investigation, theequation of characteristic number was fitted. The work in this thesis has laid the foundation for the heat transfer analyses and applications of SLHP chemical reactor to practice.Finally, Using a CFD software FLUENT v6.1.22, the method of numerical simulation was employed to investigate the temperature field in the bed of the SLHP chemical reactor. Three different cases were simulated. The distributions of the temperature in the bed were obtained and analyzed. And then a comparison between the numerical results and the experimental results which are obtained in lab and in factory is drawn. It is concluded that the SLHP can well meet all demands which are moved the heat that is given out by chemical reaction.By these studies mentioned previously, facts have been proved that the SLHP chemical reactor is highly effective in the process of MTBE's production.