Comprehensive performance comparison of airfoil fin PCHEs with NACA 00XX series airfoil

• Published in: Nuclear engineering and design Vol. 315; pp. 42 - 50
• Main Authors: Chen, Fei, Zhang, Lishen, Huai, Xiulan, Li, Jufeng, Zhang, Hang, Liu, Zhigang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 15.04.2017; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Brayton cycle; Carbon cycle; Carbon dioxide; Heat transfer; Numerical analysis; Pressure drop; Supercritical processes
• ISSN: 0029-5493; 1872-759X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nucengdes.2017.02.014

•Pressure drop of NACA 0020 airfoil fin PCHE reduces strikingly in comparison with the zigzag PCHE.•Pressure drop of NACA 00XX airfoil fin PCHE decreases as airfoil thickness increases.•Heat transfer performance of NACA 00XX airfoil fin PCHE increases as airfoil thickness rises.•Comprehensive performance of NACA 00XX airfoil fin PCHE degrades as airfoil thickness increases. Printed circuit heat exchanger (PCHE) can be used in supercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO2) Brayton cycle. The present study compares NACA 0020 airfoil fin PCHE with conventional zigzag PCHE by numerical analysis. Pressure drop of the former has a striking reduction while maintaining excellent heat transfer performance. Comparison on four NACA 00XX series airfoil fin PCHEs is performed to investigate the influence of airfoil profile on flow and heat transfer performance. With a fixed vertical pitch, heat transfer performance of NACA series airfoil fin PCHE increases as airfoil thickness increases. However, comprehensive performance, in which both flow and heat transfer are taken into account, degrades with increasing airfoil thickness. Among four NACA airfoil fin PCHEs presented in this paper, NACA 0010 airfoil fin PCHE demonstrates the best comprehensive performance.