Thermal performance measurement of additive manufactured high-temperature compact heat exchangers

Abstract

Due to increased distribution of high-temperature processes in energy and process plants, more efficient and compact high-temperature heat exchangers are being developed. The additive manufacturing allows the construction of compact sizes and application-specific requirements. To evaluate the thermal performance of these heat exchangers, experimental investigations are evident. This study presents a test rig for testing compact high-temperature heat exchangers as well as a first set of thermal performance data of an additively manufactured plate-fin heat exchanger. The test rig can provide a maximum fluid temperature of 900°C and a maximum mass flow rate of 0.8 kg/min. A steam unit can add steam to the fluid stream to evaluate the influence of gas radiation on the thermal performance. The capabilities of this test rig are being tested with the plate-fin heat exchanger, varying the mass flow rate between 0.2 - 0.52 kg/min at a hot and cold inlet temperature of 750°C and 250°C. The overall effectiveness of the heat exchanger is approx. 0.9.