Steady-state and transient behavior of two heat exchangers coupled by a circulating flowstream

Systems consisting of two heat exchangers coupled by a circulating flowstream are studied. The systems differ in the flow configurations of the single heat exchangers. For steady-state operation, there exists a heat capacity rate of the circulating flowstream that maximizes the temperature changes of the external flowstreams. Until now, this optimum has been calculated assuming that the overall heat transfer coefficients of the heat exchangers do not depend on the mass flow rate of the circulating flowstream. In this paper, the dependence of the overall heat transfer coefficient on the mass flow rate of the circulating flowstream is taken into account. For transient operating conditions, the system response to perturbations of inlet temperatures and mass flow rates is calculated by the method of Laplace Transforms and an explicit finite difference method. The most significant features of the coupled system become apparent by considering outlet temperature transients induced by perturbations of the mass flow rate of the circulating flowstream.