Effect of working parameters of the plate heat exchanger on the thermal performance of the anti-bact heat exchanger system to disinfect Legionella hot water systems

The objective of the current study is to analyze the effect of different working parameters on the thermal performance of the Anti-Bact Heat Exchanger system (ABHE). The ABHE system is inspired by nature and implemented to achieve continuous disinfection of Legionella in different human-made water systems at any desired disinfection temperature. In the ABHE system, most of the energy is recovered using an efficient plate heat exchanger (PHE). A model by Engineering Equation Solver (EES) is set-up to figure out the effect of different working parameters on the thermal performance of the ABHE system. The study shows that higher supplied water temperature can enhance the regeneration ratio (RR), but it requires a large PHE area and pumping power (PP) which consequently increase the cost of the ABHE system. However, elevate temperature in use results in a reduced PHE area and PP, which accordingly reduce the cost of the ABHE system. On the other hand, the EES-based model is used to study the effect of the length and the width of the plates used in the PHE on the RR and the required area of the PHE. Finally, taking into account the geometrical parameters, flow arrangement and the initial operating conditions of the PHE, the EES-based model is used to optimize the PHE in which its area is minimized, and the RR of the ABHE system is maximized.