Experimental Investigation of Heat Loss on a Heat Exchanger in a Sodium Test Facility

For the verification of the heat transfer performance in various operating conditions, SELFA (Sodium thermalhydraulic Experiment Loop for Finned-tube Sodium-to- Air heat exchanger) was designed and constructed to examine the heat transfer and flow characteristics of FHX in PGSFR. Test components using high temperature liquid sodium, such as a model FHX (M-FHX) in SELFA, is likely to have a significant effect on the temperature results due to heat loss. Heat loss quantities on a component can be estimated by both theoretical and experimental approaches. The heat loss of the sodium in the heat exchanger is assumed to be caused only by the air flow from the blower, but in fact, the heat loss is also occurred through the structure of the SELFA. This study was performed to observe the characteristics of heat loss occurring through the outer wall of the SELFA and to research its characteristics. This work will be very important to improve the accuracy and the responsibility of experimental results from FHX in SELFA.