Theoretical modeling and verification of storage time of cold box based on network method of radiation heat transfer

Abstract

The storage time of cold box is an important subject. At present, the research method of the storage time is mainly experiment, and the theoretical research is incomplete. Therefore, in this work, a theoretical modeling combined with a network method of radiation heat transfer, shape factor of heat conduction, and sensible heat of refrigerant was proposed to calculate the storage time of a cold box at various ambient temperatures and amounts of refrigerant. The experimental and simulation results were used to verify the theoretical modeling of the storage time. The influences of sensible heat of refrigerant and radiation heat transfer in the cold box were analyzed. The stability of the theoretical modeling was studied via simulation of the different cold box and refrigerant materials. The results of the accuracy of theoretical model confirmed that the maximum error between the theoretical and the experimental storage times is 8.45%, and error between the theoretical and the simulation results is 7.51%, indicating that the sensible heat of refrigerant and radiation heat transfer have big impacts on the storage time. The stability of theoretical model is confirmed under different box and refrigerant materials. The storage time model has stability on different box materials and refrigerant materials. The theoretical model can be severed as a fundamentally guidance for the cold box production design.