Developments in geothermal energy in Mexico—part nine: heat transfer equation for determining convection coefficients in liquid-solid fluidised beds

The use of liquid fluidised bed heat exchangers (LFBE) as a promising method of physically eliminating scaling of heat transfer surfaces due to geothermal fluids is described.

The methodology employed by other researchers for the development of a heat transfer design equation to predict bed-side convection coefficients is analysed. It appears that such a methodology is inappropriate.

An analytical mathematical method for determining the constants in the design equation to predict fluidisation-related convection coefficients is developed and proposed for the analysis of pertinent experimental data. Preliminary results employing the method are included and a complete analysis is underway.