Research Calculating of Micro Gas Turbine Engine Heat Exchanger

To solve the design problem of a micro gas turbine heat exchanger, numerical calculations are performed. Corresponding to the configuration of common plate-fin heat exchangers used in micro gas turbines, to investigate the flow characteristics and heat transfer efficiency of plate-fin heat exchangers with different structures. Crossed ribs increased heat exchanger effectiveness by 6.54% for the length is 440mm. The increase can be further improved by increasing the Reynolds number. At the same time, the impact cooling caused by the airflow passing through the crossed ribs resulted in a higher pressure loss, which rises from 6.24% to 11.5%. Finally, the normal plate-fin heat exchanger has a superior comprehensive unit performance coefficient of 0.233 than the crossing fin heat exchanger, which has a coefficient of 0.2. By extending the normal plate-fin heat exchanger's length from 440 mm to 600 mm, the pressure loss is only 63.1% of that of the 440 mm crossing-fin heat exchanger while maintaining its 97.8% heat transfer efficiency. This means that if space is available, normal fins are the more cost-effective option.