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Conference Article: The use of Compact Heat Exchangers technologies for the HTRs recuperator application per proper design

Abstract

The present study is carried out within the WP2 “recuperator” of the HTR-E European program. New concepts based on High Temperature gas cooled Reactors (HTRs) have become potentially interesting for the future with a closed cycle gas turbine. These concepts, theoretically able to provide efficiency higher than classical steam cycle, need very high efficiency components, such as the helium/helium recuperator. Within a Brayton cycle, the heat exchanger has to work under very harsh conditions (temperature, pressure, pressure difference between the circuits). 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 main purpose of this paper is to list the most promising technologies, to select the best ones and to propose a proper design to fit with the HTR requirements. Some tests are planned on the CEA testing loop.

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Reference:

Proceedings of the Conference on High Temperature Reactors, Beijing, China, September, 22-24, 2004

International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna (Austria)

HTR-2004, pp:1-20