Thermal-hydraulic performance of a high-temperature zigzag-channel printed circuit heat exchanger - 18563

Conference · Tue Nov 15 00:00:00 EST 2016

OSTI ID:23032690

Chen, Minghui; Sun, Xiaodong ^[1]; O Brien, James E.; Yoon, Su-Jong; Sabharwall, Piyush ^[2]; Christensen, Richard N. ^[3]

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1. The Ohio State University, 201 West 19th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA (United States)
2. Idaho National Laboratory, 2525 Fremont Avenue, Idaho Falls, ID 83402, USA (United States)
3. University of Idaho, 1776 Science Center Drive, Idaho Falls, ID 83402, USA (United States)

Advanced nuclear reactors, such as high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs) from the Generation IV nuclear systems, are designed with the capability of delivering high-pressure, high-temperature helium to power conversion units for electricity generation and industrial plants for process heat applications. The efficiency of the electricity generation and process heat applications of HTGRs is critically dependent upon an intermediate heat exchanger (IHX), which is a key component in transferring thermal energy from the primary coolant to a secondary coolant. Printed circuit heat exchangers (PCHEs) are promising to be employed in HTGR designs due to their capability for high-temperature, high-pressure applications and compactness. In the current study, a laboratory-scale zigzag-channel PCHE was fabricated and its heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics were investigated experimentally in a high-temperature helium test facility (HTHF). A commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code, STARCCM+, was used to simulate the thermal-hydraulic performance of the fabricated PCHE with a simplified geometry model. Comparisons showed some differences between experimental data available for the zigzag-channel PCHE and the numerical results. Local thermal-hydraulic performance analyses indicated that fully-developed flow conditions and periodic changes were not observed, which could be attributed to the temperature variations along the flow channels, resulting in large fluid property variations. In addition, the effects of sharp-edged or rounded zigzag channel geometry were numerically evaluated. The use of rounded corners at each bend of the channels is recommended since this method can reduce the pressure drop on both the hot and cold sides of the heat exchanger while maintaining similar heat transfer capabilities. (authors)

• Research Organization: American Nuclear Society - ANS, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
• OSTI ID: 23032690
• Resource Relation: Conference: HTR 2016: International Topical Meeting on High Temperature Reactor Technology, Las Vegas, NV (United States), 6-10 Nov 2016; Other Information: Country of input: France; 17 refs.; available from American Nuclear Society - ANS, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (US)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
42 ENGINEERING
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
COOLANTS
EFFICIENCY
GEOMETRY
HEAT EXCHANGERS
HEAT TRANSFER
HELIUM
HTGR TYPE REACTORS
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
PERIODICITY
POWER GENERATION
PRESSURE DROP
PRIMARY COOLANT CIRCUITS
PRINTED CIRCUITS
PROCESS HEAT
REACTOR DESIGN
TEST FACILITIES
THERMAL HYDRAULICS