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doi: 10.2306/scienceasia1513-1874.2008.34.229
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230 ScienceAsia 34 (2008)
behaviour in the flow channels. Numerical results rate can be obtained from experimental data. These
concerning the difference between the inlet and the empirical models are easily obtained, especially
outlet yoghurt temperatures were compared with when the fouling mechanism is not dominated by the
experimental data, and a standard deviation of 6.9% reaction. This work presents fundamental dynamical
and 7.3% for the simulations with variable and constant models and simulations including fouling effects by
heat flux were reported, respectively. using the aforementioned empirical fouling models.
However, to predict the change in PHE thermal A system of PHE for pasteurization of coconut milk
performance under the influence of some disturbances, was used as a case study to compare the results of the
the steady state model is no longer useful. In particular, simulated thermal performance with the experimental
the PHEs used in food processing presents a major work.
problem due to a kind of disturbance called food
fouling. A number of authors have tried to simulate A thermal dynamic model of PHEs
the effects of fouling. The simulation results of cow In PHEs, hot fluid transfers heat to cold fluid
milk fouling models10–13 and coconut milk fouling through metal plates (Fig. 1). To obtain the thermal
models1 are presented here. To reproduce the model for PHEs, the following assumptions were
temperature profiles within the PHEs as a function of made.
time, the fouling models must be used in conjunction
with dynamic thermal models of PHEs as a dynamic
simulation. Lakshmanan and Potter14 simulated the
thermal dynamic model of this kind of heat exchanger
using a cinematic model, and concluded that the
cinematic model could find not only the steady state
temperature profiles but also dynamic temperature
profiles. Sharifi et al15 predicted the temperature profile
of PHEs when the fluid viscosity was a function of the
temperature using an explicit and a Crank-Nicholson
finite difference method (CNFDM). A comparison be-
tween the implicit and explicit methods was conducted, Fig. 1 Control volume differential element in PHE
and it was concluded that explicit methods had channel.
the advantage of step change in hot fluid output
temperature but it had a stability concern; the applied The flow regime in narrow channels is 2D planar flow
time increment could not be too small. Therefore, i.e., there are no variations of flow and heat transfer
the CNFDM, which produced unconditionally stable parameters in the y-direction and negligible end
solutions, was the attractive and proper choice, and so effects. No diffusion of heat occurs in the axial direction.
it was employed. Das and Murugesan16 and Das et al17 The fluid flow rate and temperature profile are uni-
presented generalized models for thermal simulation form across the channel and plate width. Each fluid is
of a single pass PHE with flow distribution and end split equally between all related channels. Heat losses
effects by using the transfer function method. They to the environment are negligible. The header and
concluded that flow maldistribution had a significant follower parts of the PHE are well insulated. The
effect on thermal performance. Geogiadis and physical properties of the fluid are independent of
Macchietto18 simulated the effects of milk fouling by small temperature changes. Complete mixing of
using a thermal dynamic model coupled with a kinetic liquid occurs at the outlet manifold. Heat convection
milk fouling model. Three arrangements with 16 between channels can be calculated through the
channels were used as case studies. Their simulation overall heat transfer coefficient (U). The rate of fouling
results were consistent with experimental data. could be a function of processing time, fluid flow
Most dynamic thermal models described in the rate, and fluid temperature, depending upon selected
literature were developed to study PHEs in dynamic empirical fouling models.
circumstances. For the operation of PHEs with food From the energy conservation equation and the
fouling, the model could be used with fouling models above assumptions, we obtain the following equation
obtained from kinetic data of reaction fouling. In describing the heat transfer between fluids within the
some cases, fouling-model parameters such as the control volume element,
rate of decrease of thermal performance as a function ∂T j ∂T j U j , j −1 (T j −1 − T j) U j , j +1 (T j +1 − T j)
= n jv j + + , (1)
of processing time, fluid temperature, and fluid flow ∂t ∂z j C pj b j C pj b
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ScienceAsia 34 (2008) 231
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232 ScienceAsia 34 (2008)
all the parameters of each channel, A-F, were computational time reached a predefined value
calculated.
The consistency of the scheme applied here Simulation case study
was tested by taking the limit of the finite difference PHE used in coconut milk pasteurization
equations as both time-step and grid-size tend to zero. was employed as a case study. The plate properties
These gave the original PDE. are summarized in Table 1. The Nusselt numbers
When applying equations to all ghost nodes of the coconut milk side and the water side used the
and boundary conditions, the equations were arranged correlation of a flat straight passage23. The correlation
into a matrix equation, Ax = b. The inverse of matrix in (12) was suggested for turbulent flow, and the
A was determined and it did not change with time, and channel velocity varies from 0.1 to 3 m/s.
hence the inverse matrix can be used for all time steps. 0.8 0 .33 (12)
Nu = 0.036 Re Pr
The initial conditions (ICs) and boundary conditions
(BCs) of the PHE systems depend on the internal flow Table 1. Plate properties, fluid properties and composition
arrangement. of coconut milk1,5
We used the following simulation algorithm Plate Properties Composition of the
coconut milk
(Fig. 3). First of all, with a specified fluid flow Plate Data Case Study 1 Case study 2 C omponent (s)
Percent*
(w/w)
rate and temperature at the inlets, a steady state Thermal conductivity
(W/m K)
16.2 1 6.2 Water 70.57
Case study 1
There were two objectives for solving this case
study by the proposed algorithm. First, a group of
dynamic simulated results were needed to identify a
minimum number of grids and a maximum number
of time intervals in which the simulated results can
be reliable. Second, in order to verify the thermal
models and simulation technique, the simulated
results will be compared with the experimental results
obtained by Pichitvittayakarn1.
The simulation of 3 channels (1 pass 1 channel
Fig. 3 Algorithm.
of coconut milk counter current with 1 pass
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ScienceAsia 34 (2008) 233
2 channels of hot water) was investigated temperature of coconut milk that is higher than the
(Fig. 4a). The conditions of the simulation were set-point temperature. This case study was separated
similar to that of Pichitwitayakan’s experiment1. ICs into two sections.
and BCs for this case study are as follows: Fluid properties at the inlet are shown in Table 1.
i ∈ 1...nGrid }, a ∈ {1,3,5,..., 49} (14)
0 ICs and BCs of this case are as follows:
Ti , a = Th ,in ,
i ∈ {1...nGrid }, b ∈ {2, 4, 6,...,50}, (15) (20)
0
Ti ,b = Tc ,in , Ti ,0a = Thot in i ∈ {1...nGrid }, a ∈ {1,3}
n n 0
TnGrid ,1 = TnGrid ,3 , n∈I
+
, (16) Ti ,b = Tcold in i ∈ {1...nGrid }, b = 2 (21)
n n +
n
T0, 2 = Tcold in , n∈I
+
, TnGrid ,1 = TnGrid , x , n∈I , x ∈ {3,5, 7..., 49} , (22)
(17)
n +
n + T0, 2 = Tcold in , n ∈I , (23)
TnGrid ,1 = Thot in , n∈I , (18) +
n
TnGrid ,1 = Thot in , n∈I , (24)
n n n
T0,1 + T0,3
n
, +
. (19) ∑T
Th ,out = n∈I n x 0, x , +
n∈I , x ∈ {1,3,5..., 49} , (32)
2 Th ,out =
25
Hot Water
Fig. 5 Flow diagram of case study 2. lines was varied from 10 to 100, with 10-grid line
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234 ScienceAsia 34 (2008)
(a) (a)
22 4 3 2
y = 3E-07x - 6E-05x + 0.0037x - 0.0724x + 14.443
2
R = 0.9989
20
Computional Time (hr)
18
16
14
12
10
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Number of Grids (Grids)
(b) (b)
Fig. 6 The influence of the number of grid lines on: (a) Fig. 7 Comparison between the experimental and simula-
outlet temperature of coconut milk with time, (b) compu- tion results (100 grid lines): (a) outlet temperature of coco-
tational time. nut milk, (b) overall heat transfer coefficient.
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ScienceAsia 34 (2008) 235
Case study 2
The first section incorporated the cases in which
only one parameter was changed. Table 2 reports the
conditions used in this section. Fig. 8 illustrates the
outlet temperature of coconut milk versus the time
obtained by simulation. When PHE operated under
the clean condition, it gave a less than acceptable
temperature of the coconut milk outlet. Therefore,
the adjusting of the hot water inlet temperature
from 90 °C to 93 °C or the adjusting of the hot
water flow rate from 7.5x10-4 m3/s to 1.1x10-3 m3/s
was accomplished. After this, the hot water inlet
temperature must be changed from 93 °C
to 96 °C or the hot water flow rate must be (a)
changed from 1.1x10-3 m3/s to 2.25x10-3 m3/s
if the coconut milk outlet temperature was less
than the acceptable value for the second loop.
The comparison shown in Table 2 suggests that the
energy cost in the case of the hot water inlet
temperature adjustment was lower than that of the
hot water flow rate adjustment by about 9.33 times
and 30.7 times for the first and the second loop,
respectively. Moreover, the time extension
seemed to be longer in the case of hot water
inlet temperature adjustment. Therefore, the
change of the hot fluid inlet temperature was more
appropriate in terms of energy consumption and
extended operating time. This conclusion was based
on an assumption that the hot water inlet temperature (b)
change was not influenced by time or step change. Fig. 8 Outlet temperature of coconut milk as function of
operating time: (a) adjusting hot water inlet temperature,
Table 2. Simulation results of case study 2 – first section (b) adjusting hot water flow rate.
Energy cost per unit ($US/kW-hr) 0.0721
Conditions Temperature changes Flow rate changes
1st 2nd 1st 2nd
Room temperature (°C) 30 30 30 30
Old temperature (°C) 90 93 90 90
New temperature (°C) 93 96 90 90
Old flow rate (m3/s) 0.00075 0.00075 0.00075 0.0011
New flow rate (m3/s) 0.00075 0.00075 0.0011 0.00225
Energy consumption (kW) 9.13 9.13 85.25 280.05
Extended operating time (hr) 4.6 0.84 4.2 0.84
Extended operating time for 4.2 0.84 4.2 0.84
comparison (hr)
Cost of energy ($US) 2.766 0.553 25.814 16.964
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236 ScienceAsia 34 (2008)
In this study, a Crank-Nicolson finite difference algorithm of steady state simulation of plate heat
scheme using central differencing and ghost nodes exchangers. J. Food Eng. 53, 59 – 66.
was used to solve the PDE modelling plate heat 7. Gut JAW, Pinto M (2004) Optimal configura-
exchangers. This work focused on rapid fouling tion design for plate heat exchangers. Int. J. Heat
effects. The empirical fouling model based on the Mass Transfer 47, 4833–48.
work of Pichitvittayakarn1 was used as an example of 8. Gut JAW, Pinto M (2004) Modeling of plate heat
food fouling. The simulated results of the cold outlet exchanger with generalized configurations. Int.
temperature and the overall heat transfer coefficient J. Heat Mass Transfer 46, 2571–85.
time profiles agreed well with the experimental 9. Fernandes CS, Dias R, Nobrega JM, Afonso IM,
results of Pichitvittayakarn1. The proposed dynamic Melo LF, Maia JM (2004) Simulation of stirred
model and calculation algorithm were promising in yoghurt processing in plate heat exchangers. J.
simulating the thermal performance of PHEs Food Eng. 69, 281-90.
undergoing rapid fouling. However, the reliability of 10. Frye PJ, Schreier PJR (1995) Heat exchanger
the simulation relied strongly on the accuracy of the fouling: A Model study of the scale up of labora-
fouling models adopted. The algorithm presented in tory data. Chem. Eng. Sci. 50, 1311–21.
this work could also be used to identify the optimum 11. Delplace F, Leuliet JC (1995) Modeling
control strategy for a PHE. Single- or multiple- fouling of a plate heat exchanger with different
parameter controlling pump and heater could be flow arrangements by whey protein solutions.
delivered to extend PHE operating time. The magnitude Trans. IChemE. 73, 112–20.
of tuning could also be investigated by our simulation 12. Delplace F, Leuliet JC, Levieux D (1997) A
method. reaction engineering approach to the analysis
of fouling by whey proteins of six-channels-
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS per-pass plate heat exchanger. J. Food Eng. 34,
91–108.
This work was supported by the Commission 13. Grijspeerdi K, Hazarika B (2003) Application
on Higher Education (CHE), Ministry of Education, of computational fluid dynamic to mode the
Thailand, and the Thailand Research Fund (TRF), hydrodynamic of plate heat exchanger for milk
Thailand. processing. J. Food Eng. 57, 237–42.
14. Lakshmanan CC, Potter OE (1990) Dynamic
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