Performance evaluation of plate heat exchangers with chevron-type corrugation pattern for the superfluid helium cryogenic system

The 2 K heat exchanger is a critical component of the superfluid helium cryogenic system. In this paper, to further reduce the volume and manufacturing cost, a plate heat exchanger (PHE) with herringbone corrugation was innovatively used as a 2K heat exchanger. The CFD numerical method was used to simulate the single flow channel of the PHE with chevron-type corrugation pattern. It got correlations of Colburn factor j , Fanning friction factor f with Reynolds number in the core part and empirical correlations of pressure drop in the fluid distribution parts. A PHE prototype was designed based on the distributed parameter differential method and correlations. Meanwhile, the 2K cryogenic test was carried out on the PHE prototype using supercritical helium and liquid helium respectively. The results show that the calculated values are in good agreement with experimental ones. The PHE design method is simple and accurate based on distributed parameter method and CFD in this study. And brazed PHEs can be used in the liquid helium temperature range.