Thermal-hydraulic performance and optimization of printed circuit heat exchangers for supercritical fluids: A review

To establish efficient energy production, conversion and distribution systems, printed circuit heat exchanger (PCHE) with high integration and efficiency is regarded as a promising candidate in many fields involving extreme working conditions and limited operating space. After providing a brief introduction to the development and manufacturing processes of PCHEs, this study summarizes and discusses typical flow channel configurations. A comprehensive review of thermal-hydraulic characteristics and design optimizations in PCHEs is then presented, covering supercritical fluids such as carbon dioxide, helium, nitrogen, natural gas and methane. This work enables designers to quickly obtain the flow and heat transfer performance of PCHEs. The analysis of developed flow and heat transfer correlations are conducted. Finally, the future study directions of PCHEs are discussed. For various types of supercritical fluids and even multiphase flow, there is an urgent need for more abundant experimental and numerical investigations with complex flow channel structures. Additionally, establishing more generalized empirical correlations covering wide ranges of channel structures and flow conditions is crucial to providing guidance for the design and systematic optimization of PCHEs.