Simulated Annealing Approach to the Optimal Synthesis of Distillation Column with Intermediate Heat Exchangers

This article presents a simulated annealing-based approach to the optimal synthesis of distillation column considering intermediate heat exchangers arrangements. T-he number of intermediate condensers and/or intermediate reboilers, the placement locations, the.operating pressure of column, and the heat duties of intermediate heat exchangers are treated as optimization variables. A novel coding procedure making use of an integer number series is proposed to represent and manipulate the structure of system and a stage-to-stage method is used for column design and cost calculation. With the representation procedure, the synthesis problem is formulated as a mixed integer nonlinear programming （MINLP） problem, which can then be solved with an improved simulated annealing algorithm. Two examples are illustrated to show the effectiveness of the suggested approach.

Calculation of the Efficiency of Regenerative Air Heat Exchanger with Intermediate Heat Carrier

The study deals with a new regenerative air heat exchanger with an inter­mediate heat carrier used in the systems of room ventilation.A physical and mathematical model of the heat transfer process is proposed.The in­fluence of design and operating parameters on the temperature efficiency of the heat exchanger is analyzed.The possibility of a significant increase in its efficiency with a decrease in the packing diameter is shown.As a re­sult of calculations,it was found that with a decrease in the filling height,the maximum temperature efficiency shifted towards a decrease in the air flow rate from its value determined from the equality of water equivalents of liquid and air.

Heat Transfer and Entropy Generation Analysis of an Intermediate Heat Exchanger in ADS

The intermediate heat exchanger for enhancement heat transfer is the important equipment in the usage of nuclear energy. In the present work, heat transfer and entropy generation of an intermediate heat exchanger(IHX) in the accelerator driven subcritical system(ADS) are investigated experimentally. The variation of entropy generation number with performance parameters of the IHX is analyzed, and effects of inlet conditions of the IHX on entropy generation number and heat transfer are discussed. Compared with the results at two working conditions of the constant mass flow rates of liquid lead-bismuth eutectic(LBE) and helium gas, the total pumping power all tends to reduce with the decreasing entropy generation number, but the variations of the effectiveness, number of transfer units and thermal capacity rate ratio are inconsistent, and need to analyze respectively. With the increasing inlet mass flow rate or LBE inlet temperature, the entropy generation number increases and the heat transfer is enhanced, while the opposite trend occurs with the increasing helium gas inlet temperature. The further study is necessary for obtaining the optimized operation parameters of the IHX to minimize entropy generation and enhance heat transfer.

Material Characterization of Ni Base Alloy for Very High Temperature Reactor

The generation of highly efficient electricity and the production of massive hydrogen are possible using a very high temperature reactor （VHTR） among generation IV nuclear power plants. The structural material for an intermediate heat exchanger （IHX） among numerous components should be endurable at high temperature of up to 950 °C during long-term operation. Impurities inevitably introduced in helium as a coolant facilitate the material degradation by corrosion at high temperature. In the present work, the surface reactions available under controlled impure helium at 950 °C were investigated based on the thermodynamics and the corrosion tests were performed in a temperature range of 850-950 °C during 10-250 h for commercial Alloy 617 as a candidate material for an IHX. Moreover, the mechanical property and microstructure for nickel-based alloys fabricated in laboratory were evaluated as a function of the processing parameters such as hot rolling and heat treatment conditions. From the reaction rate constant obtained from an impure helium control system for a material evaluation, it was predicted that the outer oxide layer thickness, internal oxide depth, and carbide- depleted zone depth reach about 116, 600 and 1000 μm, respectively when Alloy 617 is exposed to an impure helium environment at 950 ~C for 20 years. For Ni-Cr-Co-Mo alloy, subsequent annealing and a combination of cold working and subsequent annealing following solution annealing caused increases in the grain boundary carbide coverage and size. The angular distribution of the grain boundary as well as the carbide distribution was also changed leading to a consequent improvement of the mechanical property at 950 °C in air.