Design of a Heat Exchanger for the VKI Plasmatron Facility.

Kurzfassung

A heat exchanger has been designed regarding to its thermal and hydraulic properties for the specified operation conditions of the VKI Plasmatron facility. Because of its dependency on high temperature effects the heat transfer coefficient of the high enthalpy gas has been determined using tables for high temperature air in chemical equilibrium. Comparative calculations have been performed for tubes of different materials. The geometrical arrangement of the tubes and the flow rate of the cooling water have been optimized with regard of specified maximal thermal loads and desired temperature values. Pressure losses in the gas phase over the heat exchanger have been computed for critical low pressure operation conditions. Based on the analysis of computational results and experiences on LBK facilities a favoured design has been proposed.