The recent developments in the energy and process industries have kindled renewed interest in the integration of more efficient processes and equipment. This has motivated the development of higher temperature cycles and their associated equipment. In this paper we will discuss several design configurations coupled with the inherent properties of preferred ceramic materials to assess the viability and design reliability of ceramic heat exchangers for next generation high temperature heat exchangers. These analyses have been extended to conceptually compare the traditional shell and tube heat exchanger with shell and plate heat exchangers. These analyses include hydrodynamic, heat transfer, mechanical stress and reliability models. It was found that ceramic micro-channel heat exchanger designs proved to have the greatest reliability due to their inherent mechanical properties, minimal thermo-mechanical stresses while improving the performance efficiency in a compact footprint. Based on these findings, a heat exchanger design is being developed based on micro-channels. The design and the results of the validation experiments will be discussed.

Extended Abstract Status: Not Uploaded