Preliminary evaluation of a heat pipe heat exchanger on a regenerative turbofan
A preliminary evaluation was made of a regenerative turbofan engine using a heat pipe heat exchanger. The heat exchanger had an effectiveness of 0.70, a pressure drop of 3 percent on each side, and used sodium for the working fluid in the stainless steel heat pipes. The engine was compared to a reference turbofan engine originally designed for service in 1979. Both engines had a bypass ratio of 4.5 and a fan pressure ratio of 2.0. The design thrust of the engines was in the 4000 N range at a cruise condition of Mach 0.98 and 11.6 km. It is shown that heat pipe heat exchangers of this type cause a large weight and size problem for the engine. The penalties were too severe to be overcome by the small uninstalled fuel consumption advantage. The type of heat exchanger should only be considered for small airflow engines in flight applications. Ground applications might prove more suitable and flexible.
- Research Organization:
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Cleveland, Ohio (USA). Lewis Research Center
- OSTI ID:
- 7340648
- Report Number(s):
- N-76-13101; NASA-TM-X-71853; E-8591
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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320201 -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Transportation-- Air & Aerospace
33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS
330103 -- Internal Combustion Engines-- Turbine
42 ENGINEERING
420400* -- Engineering-- Heat Transfer & Fluid Flow
AIRCRAFT
DESIGN
ENERGY CONSUMPTION
ENGINES
FUEL CONSUMPTION
HEAT EXCHANGERS
HEAT PIPES
OPERATION
PERFORMANCE TESTING
SIZE
TESTING
TURBOJET ENGINES
USES
WEIGHT