Overview
Material Issues
Thermal-Hydraulic Optimization
and Web Heat Loss
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Overview
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Heat transfer and pressure drop in the porous medium
The original design
did not have adequate "superficial"mass flow rate
(see heat transfer data). The bulk flow rate was determined from heat removal considerations and the flow area was
maximized to reduce pressure drop.
A more optimum
design increases the mass flow to 4.5 g/cm2-s, resulting in h=50000 and
DT=100°C with 5 MW/m2. Higher superficial flow rate is obtained by reducing the flow area.
However, the penalty is higher pumping power -- 8 kW per pipe, or 3.8% of the thermal power removed.
(see Ergun formula).
Plate separator
The original
design had enormous heat loss through the separator plate
(see old design)
To reduce the heat loss, we were led to create a more complicated separator design
(see new design) with stagnant He regions.
The heat loss per pipe is now 720 W (0.34% of the heat removed).
