Analysis of the effect of construction parameters on energetic and exergetic efficiency of induction air heaters

Abstract

This study is concerned with the energy and exergy efficiency analysis of a novel air heater that operates with induction principle. The aim of this paper is investigation of the energy and the exergy efficiency augmentation of the new K-1 induction air heater prototype. Energy and exergy performance of the K-1 prototype was analysed and compared with the previous K-0 prototype. The analyses were performed with experimental study and with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The new design boosted the energy efficiency about 22.98%. The exergy efficiency was calculated to be around 11.5% max. The CFD simulation results showed that a 1 m/s increase in the inlet velocity yields 3.1% and 0.06% augmentation in the energy and the exergy efficiency respectively. The inlet temperature increase negatively affects the energy and the actual exergy efficiencies. It was concluded that efficiencies of these heaters can be enhanced with more appropriate construction.