The DESOLINATION project has reached an important milestone: after an initial design and simulation phase carried out by our project partner TEMISTh, the first heat exchanger model has now been printed!
Intercambiadores de calor can take different forms depending on many parameters: temperatures, pressures, chemical properties of the fluids, etc. But they are critical to the heat transfer within the CSP cycles to recover heat from the sun and make the turbine work.
In DESOLINATION, specific work will be on exchanging heat between the power cycle (air in the existing plant, CO2 in the innovative one) and the desalination draw solution (highly concentrated solution). New Printed Circuit Heat Exchangers (PCHEs) and Printed Fin Heat Exchangers (PFHEs) will thus be produced.
Following a simulation and design phase for supercritical CO2 and molten salt, our project partner TEMISTh has launched the manufacture of the Heat Exchanger core (system used to transfer heat between a source and a working fluid).
The aim of this first mock-up is to answer technical questions such as powder removal, assembly and design validation.
The next step is to test the mock-up on an sCO2 loop for validation.
