A Dynamic Simulation Model for a Heat Exchanger Malfunction Monitoring

Modelling and simulation is presented for a finned cross-flow heat exchanger with the aim to heat cold air to be fed to air conditioning batteries for marine purposes. The model employed in this paper is finalized to simulate the dynamic behavior of air and water temperatures fed to the air conditioning batteries operating in cold environments, in order to predict possible troubles owing to the change in input parameters, such as unwanted flow rate variations due to system malfunctions. In the investigated model, heat balance equations are presented and discretized by Laplace transform, which has the advantage to easily account for the different structures of heaters used for the purpose of validation. The model was implemented in the Matlab-Simulink environment for its high capacity of dealing with dynamic systems. The results of the model are satisfactory, as the dynamic behavior of the air stream temperature is correctly reproduced, as compared to experimental data, providing a suitable parameter for malfunctions prediction.