Stability analysis of direct contact heat exchangers subject to system perturbations

The work deals with the operational stability of a spray column type heat exchanger subject to disturbances typical of those which can occur for geothermal applications. A computer program was developed to solve the one dimensional transient two phase flow problem and it was applied to the design of a spray column. The operation and design of the East Mesa 500kW/sub e/ direct contactor was assessed. It is shown that the heat transfer is governed by the internal resistance of the dispersed phase. The performance is well represented by diffusion of heat within the drops.