Experimental and numerical study on the heat transfer and flow characteristics of convex plate heat exchanger based on multi-objective optimization

Abstract

The convex plate heat exchanger is one of the new types of plate heat exchangers that have specific functional properties compared to conventional plate heat exchangers, the structural parameters of convex plate heat exchangers are important in affecting the heat transfer performance. In this paper, based on two-layer multi-objective optimization which is aimed at maximum performance evaluation criterion (PEC) and maximum field synergy number (Fc), the heat transfer and flow characteristics of convex plate heat exchanger are investigated experimentally and numerically. The optimization findings are broken down into single factor, response surface, and sensitivity analysis. The optimal results under different objective functions are analyzed and the optimal structural parameters obtained which are the welding hole radius (R) is 5.81 mm, the ellipse radius (L) is 5.02 mm, and the welding hole spacing (P) is 64.00 mm; Compared to the structure before optimization, the size-optimized structure may enhance the temperature differential between the inlet and outflow of the cooling water by less than 8.27%, the heat transfer performance is increased by 20.43%, and the comprehensive performance is improved by 2.3∼19.59%.