Design and optimization of an intermediate heat exchanger in the Eskom advanced high temperature reactor
Abstract
The Eskom AHTR forms part of the next generation of nuclear reactors and aims to have a load following capability by storing heat in molten salt. The heat generated in the reactor is removed by Helium gas and should be transferred to the molten salt storage through an intermediate heat exchanger. A design is required for the intermediate heat exchanger that would successfully deliver the heat duty required. From the literature a printed circuit heat exchanger is chosen due to its high compactness and ability to handle high pressure differentials in the fluids. The material that the heat exchanger will consist off is chosen to be Hastelloy N due to its high resistance against corrosion and acceptable design stress at the operating conditions. A Flownex model is used to design and optimize the heat exchanger and to ensure that it matches the design specifications of the AHTR reactor. The results from the Flownex model are compared to an ANSYS Fluent simulation in order to verify the results. The two simulation programs delivered similar results and the model can be seen as a good representation of the actual heat exchanger. The final heat exchanger design can successfully deliver the heat duty required.
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