A Novel Sensible Heat Pump Scheme for Industrial Heat Recovery

Most industrial heat pumps are based on the reversed Rankine cycle. According to Pinch Analysis, heat pumps should be placed across pinch. A sharp pinch with corresponding low temperature lift is required in order to achieve good performance. In addition, as will be demonstrated in this paper, the compression and expansion are not properly placed in the reversed Rankine cycle. A novel sensible heat pump scheme for industrial applications based on the reversed Brayton cycle is developed in this paper. Both compression and expansion are correctly placed above and below pinch, respectively. A systematic methodology for design of the heat pump will be presented. Operating parameters such as inlet temperatures of compression and, expansion, heat capacity flow rate of the working fluid, and the pressure ratio for compression are investigated based on thermodynamic and mathematical analyses. Three examples are used to illustrate the design methodology and energy saving potential for using the novel sensible heat pump.