A comparison of rotary regenerator theory and experimental results for an air preheater for a thermal power plant

Abstract The aim of the paper is to compare results obtained based on theoretical modeling with directly measured experimental data on a full scale operating air preheater. First, the model of rotary regenerator energy transport involving longitudinal matrix heat conduction is formulated in the paper. Then a solution of the model equation system is presented with reference to authors’ former papers. The results representing temperature distributions of heat exchanging gases and continuously rotating matrix are illustrated by means of 3D charts. For the rotary air preheater of 5.3 m diameter, the temperature distributions computed are compared with experimental data. Right trends and a fair agreement between theory and experiments are found. Finally, the computed and experimental regenerator heat transfer effectivenesses are compared and found to be within ±3% agreement at about 88% regenerator effectiveness.