• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.27 no.8
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• pp.426-431
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• 2015

The advantages of a printed circuit heat exchanger (PCHE) are the compactness and efficiency derived from its heat-transfer characteristics; furthermore, a PCHE for which a diffusion bonding method was used during production can be applied to extreme environments such as a cryogenic condition. In this study, a micro-channel PCHE fabricated by diffusion bonding was investigated in a cryogenic environment regarding its thermal performance and the pressure drop. The test rig consists of an LN2 storage tank, vaporizers, heaters, and a cold box, whereby the vaporized cryogenic nitrogen flows in hot and cold streams. The overall heat-transfer coefficients were evaluated and compared with traditional correlations. Lastly, we suggested the modified heat-transfer correlations for a PCHE in a cryogenic condition.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.69-76
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• 2021

Printed circuit heat exchanger (PCHE) is a compact heat exchanger with good heat transfer performance, high structure integrity, and reliability over a wide range of temperatures and pressures. Instead of the traditional zigzag and straight shape channel, the sinusoidal shape channel was adopted in this study to investigate the relation of thermal-hydraulic performance and waviness factors (period and amplitude). The local flow characteristics and the heat flux distribution were compared to verify the effects of period and amplitude on heat transfer performance. As the period of channel becomes shorter, the rapid change of the flow direction can produce high flow separation around the corner leading to the disturbance of the boundary layer opposite wall. The nonuniform distribution of flow velocity appeared around the corner positions can promote fluid mixing and lead to higher thermal performance. An evaluation index was used to compare the comprehensive performance of PCHE considering the Nusselt number and Fanning factor. Based on the simulation results, the optimal design parameters of PCHE channel shape were found that the channel with an equivalent bending angle of 15° offers the highest heat flux capacity.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.541-549
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• 2022

This study investigates anti-icing design by conjugate heat transfer analysis in lab-scale printed circuit heat exchanger (PCHE) for supply of cryogenic high pressure liquid hydrogen. The conjugate heat transfer analysis by using computational dynamics (CFD) provided various temperature distributions at important locations in PCHE heat exchanger and predicted the possibility of freezing in hot channel. And, the effect of inlet temperature of glycol water was analyzed in order to resolve the freezing problem in PCHE.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.61-66
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• 2011

The performance of microchannel PCHE (Printed Circuit Heat Exchanger) is superior to that of other existing commercial heat exchangers. Further, it is also more efficient than other heat exchangers. Various microchannels, whose shapes are straight (I), Wavy, Beehive, Surf, I-Wavy, I-Beehive, or I-Surf, are computationally modeled in this study. The counter-flow arrangement is used, and the flow characteristics, heat transfer, and pressure drop in the microchannels under various mass flow rate conditions are investigated. The results for I microchannel is chosen as the benchmarks and is compared with those of newly proposed microchannels. It is found that the surf-shaped microchannel is most efficient in improving the overall performance of a PCHE.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.37 no.9
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• pp.1189-1194
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• 2013

The Intermediate Heat Exchanger (IHX) of a Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) is a core component that transfers the high heat of $950^{\circ}C$ generated in the VHTR to a hydrogen production plant. The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute manufactured a lab-scale prototype of a Printed Circuit Heat Exchanger (PCHE) as a candidate for an IHX. In this study, as a part of a high-temperature structural integrity evaluation of the lab-scale PCHE prototype made of SUS316L, we carried out high temperature structural analysis modeling and macroscopic thermal and elastic structural analysis for the lab-scale PCHE prototype under helium experimental loop (HELP) test conditions as a precedent study prior to the performance test in HELP.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.240-248
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• 2024

The purpose of this study is to investigate the freezing phenomena in printed circuit heat exchanger (PCHE) for cryogenic liquid hydrogen vaporizer. Local freezing phenomena in hot channels should be avoided in designing PCHE for cryogenic liquid hydrogen vaporizer. Hence, the flow and thermal characteristics of PCHE is experimentally investigated to figure out the conditions under when freezing occurs. To conduct lab-scale PCHE experiment, liquid nitrogen is used as a working fluid in cold channels instead of using liquid hydrogen. Glycol water is used as a working fluid in hot channels. Based on the experimental data, ratio between mass flow rates of cold channels and that of hot channels is proposed as contour map to avoid the freezing phenomena in PCHE.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.35-41
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• 2013

Inlet part of a printed circuit heat exchanger has been optimized by using three-dimensional Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes analysis and surrogate modeling techniques. Kriging model has been used as the surrogate model. The objective function for the optimization has been defined as a linear combination of uniformity of mass flow rate and the pressure loss with a weighting factor. For the optimization, the angle of the inlet plenum wall, radius of curvature of the inlet plenum wall, and width of the inlet pipes have been selected as design variables. Twenty six design points are obtained by Latin Hypercube Sampling in design space. Through the optimization, considerable improvement in the objective function has been obtained in comparison with the reference design of PCHE.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.55-62
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• 2011

Shape optimization of a Printed circuit heat exchanger (PCHE) has been performed by using three-dimensional Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (3-D RANS) analysis and surrogate modeling techniques. The objective function is defined as a linear combination of effectiveness of the PCHE term and pressure drop in the cold channels of the PCHE. The cold channel angle and the ellipse aspect ratio of the cold channel are used as design variables for the optimization. Design points are selected through Latin-hypercube sampling. The optimal point is determined through surrogate-based optimization method which uses 3-D RANS analyses at design points. The results of three types of surrogate model are compared each other. The results of the optimizations indicate improved performance in friction loss but low performance in effectiveness than the reference shape.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.8
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• pp.1025-1044
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• 2009

Systematic research has been conducted by KAERI to develop a supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton cycle energy conversion system coupled with a sodium cooled fast reactor. For the development of the supercritical $CO_2$ Brayton cycle ECS, KAERI researched four major fields, separately. For the system development, computer codes were developed to design and analyze the supercritical $CO_2$ Brayton cycle ECS coupled with the KALIMER-600. Computer codes were developed to design and analyze the performance of the major components such as the turbomachinery and the high compactness PCHE heat exchanger. Three dimensional flow analysis was conducted to evaluate their performance. A new configuration for a PCHE heat exchanger was developed by using flow analysis, which showed a very small pressure loss compared with a previous PCHE while maintaining its heat transfer rate. Transient characteristics for the supercritical $CO_2$ Brayton cycle coupled with KALIMER-600 were also analyzed using the developed computer codes. A Na-$CO_2$ pressure boundary failure accident was analyzed with a computer code that included a developed model for the Na-$CO_2$ chemical reaction phenomena. The MMS-LMR code was developed to analyze the system transient and control logic. On the basis of the code, the system behavior was analyzed when a turbine load was changed. This paper contains the current research overview of the supercritical $CO_2$ Brayton cycle coupled to the KALIMER-600 as an alternative energy conversion system.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.29 no.8
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• pp.408-418
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• 2017

Supercritical carbon dioxide ($sCO_2$) power system is emerging technology because of its high cycle efficiency and compactness. Meanwhile, PCHE (Printed Circuit Heat Exchanger) is gaining attention in $sCO_2$ power system technology because PCHE with high pressure-resistance and larger heat transfer surface per unit volume is fundamentally needed. Thermo-fluidic characteristics of $sCO_2$ in the micro channel of PCHE should be investigated. In this study, heat transfer characteristics of $sCO_2$ of various inlet conditions and cross-sectional shapes of single micro channel were investigated experimentally. Experiment was conducted at supercritical state of higher than critical temperature and pressure. Test sections were made of copper and hydraulic diameter was 1 mm. Convective heat transfer coefficients were measured according to each interval of the channel and pressure drop was also measured. Convective heat transfer coefficients from experimental data were compared with existing correlation. In this study, using measured data, a new empirical correlation to predict near critical region heat transfer coefficient is developed and suggested. Test results of single channel will be used for design of PCHE.