The Thermal-hydraulic Performance of PCHE in an Air Test Loop

A High Temperature Gas cooled Reactors (HTGR) with a closed cycle gas turbine has become more interested for the future. It, theoretically able to provide efficiency higher than classical steam cycle, needs very high-performance components, such as the helium/helium recuperator. Within a indirect Brayton cycle, the heat exchanger is under very harsh conditions: temperature, pressure, pressure difference between the primary and secondary sides. Thus, no directly available compact technologies exist since they are often used for cryogenic, air cooling and automotive systems which are far from the HTGR or PBMR requirements. The key component is an intermediate heat exchanger (IHX) at the indirect cycle of HTGR. Here, a Printed Circuit Heat Exchanger (PCHE) is studied to see its thermal-hydraulic characteristics