Electrical analogues for heat exchangers

The paper is concerned with the derivation of dynamically accurate electrical analogues for heat exchangers with a view to their application in the solution of automatic-control problems relating to the latter. The analogues are based on idealized equations describing the behaviour of the thermal processes involved. Two heat exchangers, both distributed-parameter systems, are considered, and two analogues are derived for each. One type of analogue is composed almost entirely of passive components but the other contains electronic amplifiers and employs a feedback technique. The design and construction of a passive-network analogue is described, and its experimentally-determined frequency responses are given and compared with the theoretical responses of the heat exchanger. Finally, an example is given of the experimental application of the analogue in an automatic-control loop.