Experimental Investigation of Thermal and Hydrodynamic Performances of a Partial Cross-Wavy Recuperator for Microturbine Applications

In order to improve the thermal efficiency of the microturbines, the compact and high efficient primary surface heat exchangers are mandatory. Recently, the thermal and hydrodynamic performances of a cross-wavy (CW) primary surface recuperator are experimentally investigated. The recuperator tested in the experiment is only 1/3 part of the whole recuperator which is designed for a 100kW microturbine. The experimental results have shown that the comprehensive thermal and hydrodynamic performances of the CW primary surface recuperator are competitive. The overall heat transfer coefficients and the pressure drops of the recuperator are tested in the experiments. And the range of the Reynolds number is from 150 to 400. The corresponding correlations between heat transfer coefficients and Reynolds numbers and the correlations between friction factors and Reynolds numbers are obtained. The Genetic Algorithm (GA) has been used to separate the coefficients of heat transfer correlations in the hot and cold sides of the partial recuperator by separating the overall heat transfer coefficient without experimentally knowing wall temperatures. In order to improve the hydrodynamic performance, the flow arrangement is also carefully designed. Furthermore, the experimental results have also confirmed that the flow distribution in the recuperator is quite uniform.