Experimental fluid-dynamic characterization of minichannels.

Traditionally the heat exchangers that are commonly used in energy field are bulky and not very efficient, while for some applications the degree of compactness, intended as the exchange surface over the total volume, is a fundamental aspect like in offshore oil and gas applications. Therefore, a very compact but extremely reliable device is the best option. A device able to satisfy these characteristics it’s called Printed Circuit Heat Exchanger (PCHE), it is able to reach compactness ratio of around 1100 m^2/m^3 and, even if composed by plates stacked, thanks to the diffusion bonding process it has the same properties of a monolithic. PCHE can be used in applications where traditional HEs can’t be used; they can withstand temperatures up to 700°C and pressures up to 50 MPa furthermore also the material can be chosen in order to be resistant to corrosion making them the best solution for application in corrosive environments. The aim of this work is the acquisition and the analysis of experimental data to create a model for the PCHE sizing. Tests provided values of pressure drop and mass flow rate over channels of different sections and geometries, from these measured quantities some un-measured quantities are extracted and compared with literature values with the scope of derive correlations between geometrical and fluid-dynamic quantities.