Heat Transfer Behavior of Gaseous Mixtures Containing Helium and Argon or Nitrogen

摘要

The relative heat transfer behavior of pure helium, argon, and nitrogen, as well as selected binary gaseous mixtures containing helium and either argon or nitrogen, was studied experimentally by measuring the temperature increase that each of these gases, or gas mixtures, experienced as they were forced to flow through the bore side of a steam-heated copper "tube" at progressively increasing gas flow rates. The experimental results demonstrated that certain gaseous mixtures, and even some pure gases, under well-defined and specific operating conditions, are more efficient in selected heat transfer applications than pure helium alone. The cost savings that may be a result of diluting helium with another less expensive gas, and using that mixture in place of pure helium in certain gaseous heat exchange applications, can be significant. In addition, the use of more efficient gas mixtures in selected heat transfer applications can also result in more compact, and less costly, heat exchanger hardware.