Global optimization of the design of intensified shell and tube heat exchanger using tube inserts

Abstract

This paper investigates global optimization of the detailed design of intensified shell and tube heat exchangers using two tube inserts: twisted tape and coiled wire. Three objectives, including heat exchanger area, total annualized cost, and environmental impact, are respectively minimized. All the design variables are considered as the ones that have discrete values based on their physical nature or manufacturing standards. We present, for the first time, a tailored global optimization approach for the design of intensified shell and tube heat exchanger: Set trimming procedure. We compare the computational performance of our set trimming procedure, exhaustive enumeration, and commercial solvers. The proposed three objectives have certain competitive relationships and multi‐objective optimization is performed to analyze the conflicts among them. Two literature examples are tested for illustration purposes. The solution results indicate that the intensified heat exchanger designed using tube inserts compares well to the regular heat exchanger using plain tube. Compared with commercial solvers, set trimming procedure runs fast and can converge to global optimum without initial value. The pareto‐optimal solutions of multi‐objective optimization provide holistic trade‐offs between different objectives, hence helping the process designer make proper decisions for the design of intensified shell and tube heat exchangers.