Design Option of Heat Exchanger for the Next Generation Nuclear Plant

Abstract

The Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP), a very High temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (VHTR) concept, will provide the first demonstration of a closed-loop Brayton cycle at a commercial scale, producing a few hundred megawatts of power in the form of electricity and hydrogen. The power conversion unit (PCU) for the NGNP will take advantage of the significantly higher reactor outlet temperatures of the VHTRs to provide higher efficiencies than can be achieved with the current generation of light water reactors.Besides demonstrating a system design that can be used directly for subsequent commercial deployment, the NGNP will demonstrate key technology elements that can be used in subsequent advanced power conversion systems for other Generation IV reactors.In anticipation of the design, development and procurement of an advanced power conversion system for the NGNP, the system integration of the NGNP and hydrogen plant was initiated to identify the important design and technology options that must be considered in evaluating the performance of the proposed NGNP.

Experimental study on transient heat transfer enhancement from a twisted plate in convection flow of helium gas

“…Various conceptions of HTHEs are proposed and developed such as shell-and-tube heat exchangers [1][2][3][4], plate-fin heat exchangers [5,6], printed circuit heat exchangers [7][8][9], shell-and-plate micro heat exchangers [10][11] and bayonet tube heat exchangers [12][13]. The former three HTHEs are the potential IHXs for the HTGRs.…”

Study on local thermal–hydraulic performance and optimization of zigzag-type printed circuit heat exchanger at high temperature

“…1. Using the photochemical etching, the channel diameter is only 0.5-2.0 mm [1] and the compactness is up to 2500 m 2 /m 3 [7]. It was found that the volume of PCHE was 85% less than the traditional shell-and-tube heat exchanger under the same heat transfer rate and pressure drop conditions [10].…”

“…Due to the special operating condition of VHTR, the intermediate heat exchanger should endure the ultra high temperature, high pressure and high pressure difference conditions [6]. The VHTR needs extensively large heat transfer areas to transfer heat due to the high heat flux in the core [7]. However, the efficiency of traditional shell-and-tube heat exchanger is too low to satisfy the requirements of small space [8].…”