{"id":8499,"date":"2022-03-18T15:28:13","date_gmt":"2022-03-18T14:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tempco.it\/blog\/?p=8499"},"modified":"2022-03-18T15:29:04","modified_gmt":"2022-03-18T14:29:04","slug":"how-to-calculate-a-thermal-buffer-tank-in-process-cooling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tempco.it\/blog\/en\/8499\/how-to-calculate-a-thermal-buffer-tank-in-process-cooling\/","title":{"rendered":"How to calculate a thermal buffer tank in process cooling"},"content":{"rendered":"

How a thermal buffer tank<\/strong> gets calculated, and what it is aimed for? Buffer tanks, or inertial storage tanks<\/strong>, are employed in cooling systems with thermoregulating units<\/strong><\/a> served by chillers<\/strong><\/a>. Very often, indeed, our thermoregulating units, or thermostatation units, are served by chillers to serve utilities such as pharmaceutical reactors<\/a> or industrial processes in general. These cases involve high temperature gaps, requiring within the same process cooling<\/strong> tasks, heating<\/strong> and maintaining a certain temperature<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s do an example of a pharmaceutical reactor where a product has to be heated at a high temperature, for example 90\u00b0 C, in order to achieve a certain chemical reaction<\/strong>. Once it\u2019s done, the product has to be kept at a certain high temperature for a defined time lapse, and then cooled. We have therefore a high volume amount of product at high temperature<\/strong> and a jacket of the reactor with a circulating fluid at a high temperature<\/strong> as well, and it all has to be cooled. What happens is that the thermoregulating unit closes the heating section and opens the cooling section, by means of a valve, a 2-way, 3-way, switching or on\/off valve, on the exchanger<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The refrigerating group is sized in order to achieve the cooling of that exact mass volume of product within a defined time lapse<\/strong>. But as soon as the cooling process starts, we suddenly have an enormous amount of fluid at high temperature entering the exchanger, where cold water flows on the secondary circuit. The exchanger will therefore transfer a huge amount of thermal energy<\/strong>, due to the fact we have a very high logarithmic mean temperature difference<\/strong><\/a>, that increases the efficiency of the exchanger. The overall amount of thermal energy gets then discharged upon the cooling water, and in case there is no availability of a storage tank with an important volume the risk is to put the chiller under a high stress<\/strong>.<\/p>\n