A recuperator is a special-purpose high temperature cross-flow heat exchanger that extracts heat from the hot engine exhaust and transfers it to the compressed engine air before combustion. Depending on specific implementation, this can sometimes double the overall thermal efficiency of the engine.
The historical challenge with recuperators in aircraft applications centers around several key aspects—low-weight, low-volume materials that can withstand the pressure and thermal shock, while assuring heat-transfer efficiency. The graph below shows the tremendous improvement in thermal efficiency that is possible with recuperators, but also the heavy stainless steel materials that are required in traditional designs.
The patent-pending MicroFire™ recuperator solves these problems. It improves specific fuel consumption by as much as 40% with very low pressure drop and power loss (less than 3%) all for under 50 pounds of recuperator weight. This is a key enabling technology to dramatically increase helicopter engine endurance and Specific Fuel Consumption (SFC), while also reducing hydrocarbon emissions.
MicroFire™
A recuperator is a special-purpose high temperature cross-flow heat exchanger that extracts heat from the hot engine exhaust and transfers it to the compressed engine air before combustion. Depending on specific implementation, this can sometimes double the overall thermal efficiency of the engine.
The patent-pending MicroFire™ recuperator solves these problems. It improves specific fuel consumption by as much as 40% with very low pressure drop and power loss (less than 3%) all for under 50 pounds of recuperator weight. This is a key enabling technology to dramatically increase helicopter engine endurance and Specific Fuel Consumption (SFC), while also reducing hydrocarbon emissions.