Simulation model air-to-air plate heat exchanger

A simple simulation model of an air-to-air plate heat exchanger is presented. The model belongs to a collection of simulation models that allows the eflcient computer simulation of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems. The main emphasis of the models is to shorten computation time and to use only input data that are known in the design process of an HVAC system. The target of the models is to describe the behavior of HVAC components in the part-load operation mode, which is becoming increasingly important in energy eficient HVAC systems. The models are intended to be used for yearly energy calculations or load calculations with time steps of about 10 minutes or larger. Short- time dynamic effects, which are of interest for different aspects of control theory, are neglected. The part-load behavior is expressed in terms of the nominal condition and the dimensionless variation of the heat transfer with change of mass flow and temperature. The effectiveness- NTU relations are used to parametrize the convective heat transfer at nominal conditions and to compute the part-load condition. If the heat transfer coefficients on the two exchanger sides are not equal (i. e. due to partial bypassing of air), their ratio can be easily calculated and set as a parameter. The model is static and uses explicit equations only. The explicit model formulation ensures short computation time and numerical stability, which allows using the model with sophisticated engineering methods like automatic system optimization. This paper fully outlines the algorithm description and its simplifications. It is not tailored for any particular simulation program to ensure easy implementation in any simulation program