Development of a Minichannel Compact Primary Heat Exchanger for a Molten Salt Reactor

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dc.contributor.authorLippy, Matthew Stephenen
dc.contributor.committeechairPierson, Mark Alanen
dc.contributor.committeememberEkkad, Srinath V.en
dc.contributor.committeememberHendricks, Robert W.en
dc.contributor.departmentMechanical Engineeringen
dc.date.accessioned2014-03-14T20:36:21Zen
dc.date.adate2011-05-31en
dc.date.available2014-03-14T20:36:21Zen
dc.date.issued2011-04-28en
dc.date.rdate2011-05-31en
dc.date.sdate2011-05-11en
dc.description.abstractThe first Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) was designed and tested at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in the 1960's, but recent technological advancements now allow for new components, such as heat exchangers, to be created for the next generation of MSR's and molten salt-cooled reactors. The primary (fuel salt-to-secondary salt) heat exchanger (PHX) design is shown here to make dramatic improvements over traditional shell-and-tube heat exchangers when changed to a compact heat exchanger design. While this paper focuses on the application of compact heat exchangers on a Molten Salt Reactor, many of the analyses and results are similarly applicable to other fluid-to-fluid heat xchangers. The heat exchanger design in this study seeks to find a middle-ground between shell- and-tube designs and new ultra-efficient, ultra-compact designs. Complex channel geometries and microscale dimensions in modern compact heat exchangers do not allow routine maintenance to be performed by standard procedures, so extended surfaces will be omitted and hydraulic diameters will be kept in the minichannel regime (minimum channel dimension between 200 μm and 3 mm) to allow for high-frequency eddy current inspection methods to be developed. High aspect ratio rectangular channel cross-sections are used. Various plant layouts of smaller heat exchanger banks in a "modular" design are introduced. FLUENT was used within ANSYS Workbench to find optimized heat transfer and hydrodynamic performance. With similar boundary conditions to ORNL's Molten Salt Breeder Reactor's shell-and-tube design, the compact heat exchanger interest in this thesis will lessen volume requirements, lower fuel salt volume, and decrease material usage.en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Scienceen
dc.identifier.otheretd-05112011-143759en
dc.identifier.sourceurlhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-05112011-143759/en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/32603en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.relation.haspartLippy_MS_T_2011.pdfen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectnuclearen
dc.subjectmolten salt reactoren
dc.subjectprimary heat exchangeren
dc.subjectcompact heat exchangeren
dc.subjectheat exchangeren
dc.titleDevelopment of a Minichannel Compact Primary Heat Exchanger for a Molten Salt Reactoren
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.disciplineMechanical Engineeringen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Scienceen

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