In the present study, a novel PFBHE (periodic fluidized bed heat exchanger) has been proposed, and tested. In this heat exchanger, hot liquid is introduced into the bed of the solid particles during the hot exchange mode so the heat is transferred to the solid particles from the hot liquid. Then, the cold liquid passes through the heated bed during the cold exchange mode and the heat is transferred to the cold liquid from the solid particles. The influences of different operating parameters such as hot and cold fluid velocities in the range of minimum fluidization velocity to particle discharging velocity, duration time of the hot and cold exchange modes, and hot liquid inlet temperature on the performance of PFBHE have been experimentally investigated. A new performance parameter has been introduced in order to evaluate the performance of PFBHE. According to the experimental results, the best performance of PFBHE was achieved when both hot and cold liquid velocities were 0.187 m/s, hot exchange mode duration time was 20 s, the cold exchange mode duration time was 25 s, and the hot liquid inlet temperature was 60 degrees C. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.