Thermal-hydraulic characteristics of a PCHE with zigzag microchannel for hypersonic precooled aero-engines: an experimental study

The PCHE has been recognized as a promising heat exchanger for hypersonic precooled aero-engines due to its superior thermal performance, high compactness and robustness. The present work focuses on the experimental thermal-hydraulic performance study of a novel zigzag microchannel PCHE. The results indicate that the pressure loss caused by friction is the main source. The Fanning correlation proposed by Moisseysev shows more precise prediction results, whose prediction deviations are within 10.0%. The measured Nu is markedly 1.24 ~ 1.94 times higher than that of the straight channel and a new Nu correlation was developed and the maximum deviations do not exceed 5%.