An increase in thermodynamic efficiency and compactness of contact apparatuses via spatially organized structure of the active material bed

The possibility of filling the hollow input (diffuser) and output (confuser) sections of contact apparatuses by an active material is analyzed. The equation determining the distribution function of the sizes of material particles along the axis of a conelike apparatus, which provides the minimum volume of the bed of particles at the specified values of the total surface area of the interfacial contact in the bed and total flow resistance of the bed, is derived. It is shown that the change in the conventional shape of the apparatus to a construction in the form of a junction of two truncated cones filled with the active material allows one to decrease the total volume of the apparatus by 30%. The dependence of the thermodynamic efficiency and compactness of the regenerative facility on the particle size of the active material bed is numerically analyzed. The existence of a critical particle size which determines the minimum necessary volume of the bed providing high thermodynamic efficiency of the process is shown.