Key parameters effects and design on performances of hydrogen/helium heat exchanger for SABRE

Hydrogen/helium heat exchanger is a kind of heat exchanger dedicated to SABRE (Synergetic Air-breathing and Rocket Engine). Its special working environment and operating condition have brought a great challenge to its design. Hydrogen/helium heat exchanger with micro-channel/plate heat exchanger as its configuration is taken as the research object in this paper. Mathematical model of the heat exchanger is set up based on logarithmic mean temperature difference method, and the parameters that affect the heat transfer performance of heat exchanger is analyzed. The results showed that, reducing the thickness of fin or plate can help reduce the pressure loss of working fluids, the length and weight of hydrogen/helium heat exchanger. Reducing the width of micro-channel can reduce the length of heat exchanger and increase the height of heat exchanger. Reducing the height of micro-channel can reduce the length and height of heat exchanger. As a whole, the pressure loss of working fluids shows a trend of decreasing at first and then rising with the height or width of micro-channel rising. The pressure loss of helium is much greater than that of hydrogen, which means the pressure loss of helium is more sensitive to geometric parameters of heat exchanger and should be well controlled. In order to gain the best performance of the heat exchanger, the geometric parameters of heat exchanger is designed by Artificial Fish Swarm Algorithm.