On Modeling of Heat Exchangers in Modelica

It is demonstrated how ModelicaTM is used in an application to develop models that are useful when solving real problems. Modelica is a new unified modeling language being developed in an international effort to promote object-oriented and non-causal modeling, and exchange of model libraries. The application is a heat exchanger where the media are liquids, typically water. This type of heat exchangers can be used for district heating of houses and for production of hot tap water. The model developed illustrates very nicely the power of Modelica. The modularization concepts support flexible model components which are easy to use and to adapt when making a model of a real system with heat exchangers. The concept of class parameters support medium parameterization and arrays of model components support discretization. The expressive power of Modelica allows complete listings of the developed model components to be given. The model produces simulation results that agree very well with measured data.