COOLING PERFORMANCE OF A CYCLONE

Abstract

Performance of a cyclone as a cooling device with air as working fluid is studied. A turbulence kinetic energy dissipation (K-s) model, which is based an eddy viscosity is used to model the highly turbulent flow inside a cyclone. A CFD package, Ansys 5.3 (FLOTRAN) is used to solve the coupled partial differential equation of both momentum and energy conservation equations, as well as to simulate various input parameters such as inlet velocities, pressure and temperature. The radial profiles of tangential; axial velocities, pressure and temperature at two different axial positions inside a cyclone are studied. The variation of COP with temperature difference between inlet and outlet temperature is studied at the three different velocities and six different pressure of inlet fluid. It has been found that at a constant velocity and pressure of inlet fluid there exists a temperature difference where COP reaches a maximum and then decreases. The maximum value of COP is found to be in the inlet temperature range 36°C to 40°C. The COP of the cyclone is found to be in the range of 0.3 to 0.4 at low pressures without outside cooling of the surface, which is slightly greater than vortex refrigeration.