Thermodynamic evaluation of high compressible steam flow in vapor compression systems used in desalination processes

摘要

In the current study, some thermodynamic aspects of flow stream inside vapor compressors are investigated numerically and the effects of the geometry on compression process are clearly explained. A compressor provides the required energy for distillation process and the driving force for overcoming dynamic pressure losses inside the evaporators. Thermal compression process is frequently used in recent multi-effect desalination units. The basic phenomena within these devices are similar to ejectors and thus might be improved by a thoroughly CFD simulation. An experimental thermal-vapor compressor is investigated in both 2D and 3D approaches to reveal the flow characteristics inside the non-symmetric zones. Variations of some major thermodynamic properties (i.e. velocity, pressure, temperature, and density) are completely investigated within the compressor and useful graphs are produced. Afterwards, the numerical results are compared with experimental ones. Finally, it is shown that the flow deflection in the suction chamber is consequentially declined, which means the non-symmetric geometries have no considerable effect on the overall performance for industrial usages.