A Dynamic Model for Helium Core Heat Exchangers

Abstract

To meet the helium (He) requirements of the superconducting supercollider (SSC), the cryogenic plants must be able to respond to time-varying loads. Thus the design and simulation of the cryogenic plants requires dynamic models of their principal components, and in particular, the core heat exchangers. In this paper, we detail the derivation and computer implementation of a model for core heat exchangers consisting of three partial differential equations (PDEs) for each fluid stream (the continuity, energy and momentum balances for the He), and one PDE for each parting sheet (the energy balance for the parting sheet metal); the PDEs have time and axial position along the exchanger as independent variables. The computer code can accommodate any number of fluid streams and parting sheets in an adiabatic group. Features of the code include: rigorous or approximate thermodynamic properties for He, upwind and downwind approximation of the PDE spatial derivatives, and sparse matrix time integration. The outputs from the code include the time-dependent axial profiles of the fluid He mass flux, density, pressure, temperature, internal energy and enthalpy. The code is written in transportable Fortran 77, and can therefore be executed on essentially any computer.

Operated by the Universities Research Association, Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-ACO2-89ER40486.