Optimization of the reactor configuration on the performance of the cyclicworking mode of thermochemical transformers - Reactor miniaturization

Thermochemical processes present a cyclic working mode combining two active phases separated by intermediate phases. A model coupling the solid-gas ki netics and heat and mass transfers in the reactive media was developed to s imulate this cyclic working mode. With this model, the optimum values of th e working conditions for a fixed reactor configuration had been defined in a previous work. The objective of this paper is to define the best reactor configuration to produce a given cold mean power. Towards this goal, the fi rst stage consists of analyzing the influence of the two parameters charact erizing the configuration: the reactor mass and the radius. This sensibilit y study is then used in a concrete application where a pre-fixed mean power is required. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.