Two-phase plate-fin heat exchanger modeling for waste heat recovery systems in diesel engines

This paper presents the modeling and model validation for a modular two-phase heat exchanger that recovers energy in heavy-duty diesel engines. The model is developed for temperature and vapor quality prediction and for control design of the waste heat recovery system. In the studied waste heat recovery system, energy is recovered from both the exhaust gas recirculation line and the main exhaust line. Due to the similar design of these two heat exchangers, only the exhaust gas recirculation heat exchanger model is presented in this paper. Based on mass and energy conservation principles, the model describes the dynamics of two-phase fluid flow. Compared to other studies, the model is able to capture multiple phase transitions along the fluid flow by combining finite difference approach with moving boundary approaches. The developed model has low computational complexity, which makes it suitable for control design and real-time implementation.