Thermal-hydraulic performance of sinusoidal channel printed circuit heat exchanger

Printed circuit heat exchanger (PCHE) is a promising candidate in the field of supercritical CO2 Brayton cycle due to its high thermal efficiency and compactness. In this paper, the effects of wave angles (15°-30°) on the heat transfer performance of sinusoidal channels under turbulent conditions are numerically studied at first. The results show that the heat transfer performance increases with the increase of wave angle (the maximum increase of the heat transfer rate is 7.1%), while the pressure drop on the hot side increases more significantly when compared with that on the cold side. Secondly, the local flow and heat transfer characteristics in the different regions of the channels are analyzed by pitches. Zones with large and small temperature differences are observed in the inlet zones on the hot and cold sides, respectively. Meanwhile, the inlet zones are found to be related to great pressure drops and should be carefully optimized. Finally, a novel hybrid structure of sinusoidal channel combined with straight channel is designed and its thermal hydraulic performance is tentatively investigated. © 2020, Editorial Board of CIESC Journal. All right reserved.