Investigation of Heat Recuperation in a Concentric Hydrogen Reduction Reactor

摘要

Heat recuperation is a new design concept being considered for the next generation of ISRU batch reactors. Transferring heat from reacted regolith into the next batch of fresh regolith could result in significant system power savings. A new apparatus, which mimics the current reactor design, was constructed to test heat recuperation between two annular chambers. This apparatus accommodates both gas fluidization and vibrational fluidization to improve heat transfer within the JSC-1A regolith simulant. Three tests were performed using helium gas fluidization and one with combined gas and vibrational fluidization. Experimental data was used to improve the analytical model, with good agreement during the recuperation process. Preliminary results suggest that most of the pre-heating of the fresh simulant is supplied by the reactor walls and not by the reacted soil. This finding may decrease the anticipated benefit of this type of recuperation scheme. Vibrofluidization showed potential for improving heat transfer in reactors of this size, but requires additional investigation.