Four-segmented design method and numerical simulation of LNG micro-channel vaporizer

Micro-channel vaporizer has the advantages of high heat exchange efficiency, high pressure resistance and compact structure, and has broad application prospect as an LNG vaporizer. Presently, most of the LNG micro-channel vaporizers are designed by the segmentation method, which requires massive calculation by the programming computation, and it is not conductive for its promotion and application in engineering. Therefore, a four-segmented design method was proposed for the LNG micro-channel vaporizer. The vaporizer is divided into 4 segments based on the temperature of working fluids under different phases. Then, the heat transfer amount, heat transfer area and pressure drop of each segment can be obtained through the heat balance calculation and structural design calculation, and thereby the total heat transfer area can be calculated. The calculation results have an error of 13.4% compared with that given in the reference. The numerical simulation for the flow and heat transfer characteristics of the designed micro-channel unit shows that the simulated values of the channel temperature and the pressure drop are well consistent with the calculated values of the four-segmented method, and thereby, the reliability of the four-segmented design method for the LNG micro-channel vaporizer is verified.Generally, the method has the characteristics of reasonable segmentation, less calculation, and intuitive and reliable results, which provides an effective way for the design and optimization of LNG micro-channel vaporizer.