The Structural Design And Optimization Of The Polymer Melt Cooler

Formulations,processing and equipment are important aspects of the extrusion process of foamed materials.In the extrusion process,equipment has an important impact on the quality of products.The equipment is required to cool and mix the polymer melt,and from the perspective of energy-saving,the cooling structure should be comprehensive,both on cooling and mixing performance.It is required to be able to strictly control the temperature and pressure of the polymer melt,and compact structure,easy to install,hot and cooling fluid flow channels separated without fluid leakage are necessary.Because of high pressure,viscosity and thermos-sensitivity,conventional heat transfer equipment is suitable for Newtonian fluid not polymer melt.Therefore,a core-type polymer melt cooler was developed with high heat transfer efficiency,low pressure drop,great mixing performance and independent sealing without leakage.The influence of different structural parameters on the pressure drop,cooling temperature and mixing performance was analyzed by Fluent.The numerical simulation results showed that the diameter of the core need to be considered in terms of pressure drop and heat transfer performance.The smaller the core was,the larger the pressure drop,the better the heat transfer performance and the better the mixing performance were.The number of cores had little effect on pressure drop and heat transfer performance,and there were optimal values of structural parameters in heat transfer and mixing performance.The DOE experiment results showed that the degree of effect from high to low were the mass flow rates,the diameter of the core and the number of the core.The formula of pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient was deduced according to the simulation results,and the comprehensive evaluation index was put forward.The performance of the equipment with different structural parameters was analyzed,and the optimal structural parameter values were obtained,which can provide the reference for the subsequent amplification design.The exchanging rule of infrared imaging results was similar to the simulation results,and the errors were within the allowable error range,which further validated the accuracy and reliability of the simulation.Therefore,the core-type polymer melt cooler can be further optimized and improved based on experimental and numerical simulation results.