Numerical Simulation of Heat Transfer in Layered-Plate Heat Exchangers for High-Temperature Cement Cooling

Cement is a widely used construction material, but its high temperature after milling can lead to issues such as gypsum dehydration, cement agglomeration, and increased slump, all of which negatively affect concrete performance. Existing cement heat exchangers have several limitations, such as low efficiency, high energy consumption, and strict processing precision requirements. This study introduces a novel layered-plate heat exchanger and analyzes its cooling performance using ANSYS Fluent 2024 R1 software. The results indicated that increasing the height of the cooling unit group significantly improved cooling efficiency from 7.83% at 1 m to 35.99% at 10 m. When the cooling unit group height was maintained constant, adding fins and increasing the cooling water flow rate were key methods to improve cooling efficiency. At a 10 m height, adopting 100 mm (F-1) and 200 mm (F-2) fin spacings and increasing the cooling water usage of over 90t/h can reduce the temperature of 130 °C cement powder to below 80 °C, with a cooling efficiency exceeding 38.47%. This study offers an effective method for lowering the temperature of freshly milled cement, providing theoretical support for cement manufacturers to effectively address the issue of high-temperature cement.