The aim of this study was to recover energy from smoke from combustion or heat
transfer from waste hot gas to fresh air required for combustion in combustion
chambers or thermal furnaces. Energy recovery is generally done by recuperators
and regenerators (fixed or rotating matrix). In this study, rotary regenerators were
investigated. In regenerators, metal or ceramic matrices are usually used. In this
project, phase change materials (PCM) were used in the matrices to improve the
performance of this device. By inserting PCM into the rotary regenerator, more
energy can be absorbed and stored. In other words, the feasibility of increasing the
efficiency of the rotary regenerator by increasing the thermal energy storage
capacity of the plates embedded in it, is the problem of the present study. In this
regard, first, using the computational fluid dynamics method, rotary regenerator
simulation and PCM have been performed. Then the numerical model is validated
and the results are evaluated and compared. Due to the significant role of this rotary
exchanger in reducing energy consumption, the study and performance of the
effective parameters in it is very important and the improvement in its performance
reduces energy loss and cost. PCM heat has been evaluated in a rotary regenerator.
The result was that rotary regenerators containing PCMs had better thermal
efficiencies at lower rotation speeds than rotary regenerators without PCMs. In the
proposed design, in the studied cases, the efficiencies of the PCM matrix rotary
regenerator increased to 118% compared to the aluminum matrix rotary
regenerator. The result of simulating and modeling different speeds on a rotary
regenerator containing PCM showed that PCM does not operate at high rotational
speeds of the rotary regenerator, meaning that no phase change occurs in PCM but
at low PCM speeds in a cold cycle. And the heat gradually melts and freezes.
Another point that studies have shown is that increasing the rotational spe