Effect of Channel Configurations for Tritium Transfer in Printed Circuit Heat Exchangers
The Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP), a very High temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (VHTR) concept, will provide the first demonstration of a closed-loop Brayton cycle at a commercial scale of a few hundred megawatts electric and hydrogen production. The power conversion system (PCS) for the NGNP will take advantage of the significantly higher reactor outlet temperatures of the VHTR to provide higher efficiencies than can be achieved in the current generation of light water reactors. Besides demonstrating a system design that can be used directly for subsequent commercial deployment, the NGNP will demonstrate key technology elements that can be used in subsequent advanced power conversion systems for other Generation IV reactors. In anticipation of the design, development and procurement of an advanced power conversion system for the NGNP, the system integration of the NGNP and hydrogen plant was initiated to identify the important design and technology options that must be considered in evaluating the performance of the proposed NGNP. In the VHTR system, an intermediate heat exchanger (IHX), which transfers heat from the reactor core to the electricity or hydrogen production system is one key component, and its effectiveness is directly related to the system overall efficiency. In the VHTRs, the gas fluids used for coolant generally have poor heat transfer capability, so it requires very large surface area for a given condition. For this reason, a compact heat exchanger (CHE), which is widely used in industry especially for gasto-gas or gas-to-liquid heat exchange is considered as a potential candidate for an IHX replacing the classical shell and tube type heat exchanger. A compact heat exchanger is arbitrary referred to be a heat exchanger having a surface area density greater than 700 m2/m3. The compactness is usually achieved by fins and micro-channels, and leads to the enormous heat transfer enhancement and size reduction. The surface area density is the total heat transfer area divided by the volume of the heat exchanger. In the case of PCHE units, the heat transfer surface area density may be as high as 2,500 m2/m3. This high compactness implies an appreciable reduction in material reducing cost. In this study, heat transfer and tritium penetration analyses have been performed for two different channel configurations of the PCHE; (1) standard and (2) off-set. One of the goals of this study was to determine whether offsetting the hot and cold streams would significantly reduce the tritium flux, and whether or not it would affect the heat transfer significantly.
- Research Organization:
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE - NE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC07-99ID-13727
- OSTI ID:
- 957549
- Report Number(s):
- INL/CON-09-15462; TRN: US1000637
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: ICAPP '09,Tokyo, Japan,05/10/2009,05/14/2009
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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