A simulation of the moving granular-bed type heat exchanger, in which heat is transferred from the hot gas through granular materials and heat pipes to the cold gas, has been performed. A numerical simulation model was made by dividing each part of the heat exchanger in to small elements, and each heat balance was calculated using the finite difference method. The heat transfer coefficients and effective thermal conductivies of the granular-bed in each part of the heat exchanger were estimated from a general theory, while the heat transfer coefficient between the granular-bed and heat-pipes was determined from the experiment.
The steady characteristic of the heat exchanger from the calculations was compared with the data obtained from the experiment. The calculation results coincided well with the experimental results.
The method of modelling and simulation was confirmed to be accurately applicable to the estimation of the performance of the heat exchanger using granules as heat transferring media and heat pipes.