Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
9781380 | Cryogenics | 2005 | 11 Pages |
Abstract
A counterflow heat exchanger (CFHX) is an essential element for recuperative cooling cycles. The performance of the CFHX strongly influences the overall performance of the cryocooler. In the design of a heat exchanger, different loss mechanisms like pressure drop and parasitic heat flows are often treated separately. Acceptable values for the pressure drop and total heat leakage are estimated and thus a CFHX geometry is more or less arbitrarily chosen. This article applies another, less familiar design strategy where these losses are all treated as a production of entropy. It is thus possible to compare and sum them. In this way, a CFHX configuration can be found that is optimal for a certain application, producing a minimum of entropy and thus has minimum losses. As an example, the design steps of a CFHX for the micro cooling project at the University of Twente are given. Also a generalization of micro CFHX dimensions for cooling powers between 10 and 120Â mW is presented.
Keywords
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Materials Science
Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
Authors
P.P.P.M. Lerou, T.T. Veenstra, J.F. Burger, H.J.M. ter Brake, H. Rogalla,