Joule–Thomson effect investigations on a cryogenic three‐fluid–three thermal communication heat exchanger

Abstract

AbstractThe present study investigates the Joule–Thomson (JT) effect due to pressure drop on three‐fluid heat exchangers (HXs) with three thermal communications. The increased miniaturization of cryogenic HXs has led to the introduction of the JT effect. The present study investigates JT effects on a three‐fluid HX with three communications presenting different JT effects, which leads to a rise or drop in effectiveness values. The study is carried out using finite element analysis and MATLAB, considering seven nondimensional parameters of which one is JT pressure drop. The highest effectiveness is achieved for the positive JT effect at the hot stream. This improved effectiveness at hot fluid is achieved by maintaining the size (number of transfer units) of the HX more than 3.1, along with the ratio of the cold fluid heat capacity to the hot fluid heat capacity above 0.8 and the intermediate fluid temperature above 0.7.