Enhanced heat transfer in printed circuit heat exchangers with molten salt and S-CO₂

The performance of the heat exchanger has a huge impact on the cycle efficiency and levelised cost of electricity in solar thermal power generation. This paper proposes a novel scaled structure for the cold-side channel of the printed circuit heat exchanger (PCHE) that combines good heat transfer performance with lower pressure drop. A numerical simulation is employed to investigate and compare the performance of PCHEs with scaled, zigzag, and straight channels. When using the comprehensive performance evaluation criteria (PEC) as evaluation indicator, the scaled channel demonstrate the best overall performance, with an increase in comprehensive performance by 6 % and 12 % compared to zigzag and straight channels, respectively. The above conclusions indicate that the adoption of scaled channel structures could enhance the heat transfer performance of PCHE, providing valuable insights for the development and improvement of novel PCHE and other heat exchanger’s heat transfer efficiency.