Development of Advanced Printed Circuit Heat Exchanger Analysis Code for Various Flow Paths

Heat exchangers of gas-cooled reactors need large surface area to achieve effective heat transfer. Among many options, Printed-Circuit Heat Exchanger (PCHE) is regarded as a potent candidate because it provides exceptionally large surface area with compactness. Previously developed PCHE analysis codes models flow path configurations with either sole counter flow or sole cross flow. However, an actual PCHE usually consists of various hot and cold channel configurations, including regions of counter flow, cross flow, and parallel flow, depending on header locations. Figure1 shows various PCHE flow configurations with different header locations. In this research, we develop an advanced PCHE analysis code that gives PCHE performance by capturing flow configuration effects with respect to different header locations, and discuss design implications of flow path dependent PCHE performance