A design and performance analysis for the Hot Primary Heat Exchanger (HPX) using numerical analysis

Abstract

The Hot Primary Heat Exchanger (HPX), a key component of the ThermoAcoustic Life Sciences Refrigerator, consists of a tube and fin design. The tubing is bent into a serpentine pattern and overlayed on a screen of copper fins. The serpentine pattern results in several flow reversals and complex internal flow geometries within the heat exchanger. The fins are not consistently of uniform length and generally have heat rejection at both ends. This design results in a forced-cooled, single stack cold plate configuration with unequal temperatures at each end of the fin. The analysis of this configuration requires a methodology based upon the existence of an adiabatic point somewhere along the fin between the prime surfaces. Once the location of this adiabatic point is known, the cold plate may be treated on the basis of two isolated surfaces having fins with adiabatic tips.