Numerical and experimental study on liquid lithium-air heat exchanger design

Liquid metals have excellent thermal properties such as low vapor pressure, high thermal conductivity, low dynamic viscosity, and a wide range of temperatures in which they maintain liquid state. Some scholars have investigated the application of liquid metal heat exchangers. However, there is still potential for further exploration of the applicable temperature range of a liquid metal heat exchanger. In this paper, a liquid lithiumair shell-and-tube heat exchanger with a liquid lithium inlet temperature of 1473 K was designed. The heat transfer performance characteristics were studied via numerical and experimental methods. Furthermore, the numerical results were compared with the theoretical calculation results. The maximum relative differences were determined to be acceptable for the outlet temperatures, the tube and total heat transfer coefficient. The experimental temperatures for different monitoring points were compared with the steady state simulation results of the basic case. The relative errors were in the range of 0.1 % to 7.5 % for most of the temperature monitoring points. The findings of this study could offer crucial insights into the design of thermal management systems for many areas, such as the aerospace, nuclear engineering and shipbuilding industries.