New Optimization Method, the Algorithms of Changes, for Heat Exchanger Design

Heat exchangers are widely used in the process engineering such as the chemical industries, the petroleum industries, and the HVAC applications etc. An optimally designed heat exchanger cannot only help the optimization of the equipment size but also the reduction of the power consumption. In this paper, a new optimization approach called algorithms of changes (AOC) is proposed for design and optimization of the shell-tube heat exchanger. This new optimization technique is developed based on the concept of the book of changes (I Ching) which is one of the oldest Chinese classic texts. In AOC, the hexagram operations in I Ching are generalized to binary string case and an iterative process, which imitates the I Ching inference, is defined. Before applying the AOC to the heat exchanger design problem, the new optimization method is examined by the benchmark optimization problems such as the global optimization test functions and the travelling salesman problem (TSP). Based on the TSP results, the AOC is shown to be superior to the genetic algorithms (GA). The AOC is then used in the optimal design of heat exchanger. The shell inside diameter, tube outside diameter, and baffles spacing are treated as the design (or optimized) variables. The cost of the heat exchanger is arranged as the objective function. For the heat exchanger design problem, the results show that the AOC is comparable to the GA method. Both methods can find the optimal solution in a short period of time.

A refined design method for precoolers with consideration of multi-parameter variations based on low-dimensional analysis

The precooler is a distinctive component of precooled air-breathing engines but constitutes a challenge to conventional thermal design methods.The latter are based upon assumptions that often reveal to be limited for precooler design.In this paper,a refined design method considering the variations of fluid thermophysical properties,flow area and thermal parameters distortion,was proposed to remediate their limitations.Firstly,the precooler was discretized into a fixed number of sub-microtubes based on a new discretization criterion.Next,in-house one-dimensional(1D)and two-dimensional(2D)segmented models were established for rapid thermal design and precooler rating with non-uniform airflow,respectively.The heat transfer experimental studies of supercritical hydrocarbon fuel were performed to verify the Jackson correlation for precooler design and the in-house models were validated against the reported data from open literature.On this basis,the proposed method was employed for the design analysis of hydrocarbon fuel precoolers for precooled-Turbine Based Combined Cycle(TBCC)engines.The results show that the local performance of precoolers is intrinsically impacted by the aforementioned three variations.In the case study,the local heat transfer performance is drastically affected by coolant flow transition.While the circumferential temperature distortion of airflow is weakened by heat transfer.With consideration of additional parameter variations,this novel method improves design accuracy and shortens the design time.