Numerical and experimental study on the falling film flow characteristics with the effect of co-current gas flow in hydrogen liquefaction process

Liquid hydrogen storage and transportation is an effective method for large-scale transportation and utilization of hydrogen energy. Revealing the flow mechanism of cryogenic working fluid is the key to optimize heat exchanger structure and hydrogen liquefaction process (LH2). The methods of cryogen...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Petroleum science 2024-04, Vol.21 (2), p.1369-1384
Main Authors: Sun, Chong-Zheng, Li, Yu-Xing, Han, Hui, Geng, Xiao-Yi, Lu, Xiao
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cooling
Efficiency
Energy consumption
Energy industry
Falling film flow
Flow characteristics
Flow distribution
Flow pattern
Flow pattern transition
Flow rates
Flow velocity
Gas flow
Heat exchangers
Heat transfer
Hydrogen
Hydrogen liquefaction
Hydrogen storage
Laminar flow
Liquefaction
Liquid flow
Liquid hydrogen
Mist
Natural gas
Optimization
Refrigerants
Reynolds number
Simulation
Spiral wound heat exchanger
Theoretical analysis
Visualization
Working fluids
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Liquid hydrogen storage and transportation is an effective method for large-scale transportation and utilization of hydrogen energy. Revealing the flow mechanism of cryogenic working fluid is the key to optimize heat exchanger structure and hydrogen liquefaction process (LH2). The methods of cryogenic visualization experiment, theoretical analysis and numerical simulation are conducted to study the falling film flow characteristics with the effect of co-current gas flow in LH2 spiral wound heat exchanger. The results show that the flow rate of mixed refrigerant has a great influence on liquid film spreading process, falling film flow pattern and heat transfer performance. The liquid film of LH2 mixed refrigerant with column flow pattern can not uniformly and completely cover the tube wall surface. As liquid flow rate increases, the falling film flow pattern evolves into sheet-column flow and sheet flow, and liquid film completely covers the surface of tube wall. With the increase of shear effect of gas-phase mixed refrigerant in the same direction, the liquid film gradually becomes unstable, and the flow pattern eventually evolves into a mist flow.
ISSN:1995-8226
1672-5107
1995-8226
DOI:10.1016/j.petsci.2023.11.007