Suitability Assessment of Two Types of Heat Exchangers for High Temperature, Naturally Circulating Helium Cooling Loop

Abstract The paper presents a comparison of the process properties of two types of the heat exchangers designed for the heat removal from a high temperature helium cooling loop with steady natural circulation of helium. The first considered heat exchanger is a shell and tube heat exchanger with U-tubes and the other one is a helical coil heat exchanger. Using the thermal and hydrodynamic process calculations, the thermal performance of the two alternative heat exchangers are determined, as well as the pressure drops of flowing fluids in their workspaces. The calculations have been done for several defined operating conditions of two considered types of heat exchangers. The operating conditions of heat exchangers correspond to the certain helium flow rates.