Abstract
A marine condenser with exhausted steam as the working fluid is researched in this paper. Constructal designs of the condenser are numerically conducted based on single and multi-objective optimizations, respectively. In the single objective optimization, there is an optimal dimensionless tube diameter leading to the minimum total pumping power required by the condenser. After constructal optimization, the total pumping power is decreased by 42.3%. In addition, with the increase in mass flow rate of the steam and heat transfer area and the decrease in total heat transfer rate, the minimum total pumping power required by the condenser decreases. In the multi-objective optimization, the Pareto optimal set of the entropy generation rate and total pumping power is gained. The optimal results gained by three decision methods in the Pareto optimal set and single objective optimizations are compared by the deviation index. The optimal construct gained by the TOPSIS decision method corresponding to the smallest deviation index is recommended in the optimal design of the condenser. These research ideas can also be used to design other heat transfer devices.
Highlights
The structure of the marine condenser has an important effect on its performance, which has not been optimized based on constructal theory in open published literatures
Constructal design of a marine condenser is conducted in this paper
The total pumping power (TPP) required by the condenser is minimized with fixed total heat transfer rate (HTR) and heat transfer area (HTA), and the optimal outer diameter (OD) of the heat transfer tube (HTT) is obtained
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Li et al [81] performed constructal design of grooved condenser wick structures and formulated it as a general “area-to-point” heat conduction problem with disk-shaped structure. The structure of the marine condenser has an important effect on its performance, which has not been optimized based on constructal theory in open published literatures. In the conditions of fixed total HTR and heat transfer area (HTA), constructal design of Energies 2021, 14, 5545 the condenser will firstly be conducted with the goal of minimum TPP. The effects of cooling water inlet temperature (CWIT), steam mass flow rate (MFR), total HTA and HTR on constructal optimization results will be analyzed. The multi-objective optimization considering the performances of entropy generation rate (EGR) and TPP will be further conducted, and the Pareto optimal set of the two indexes will be gained. Another novelty of this paper is the adoption of three decision methods to evaluate the Pareto optimal set gained by NSGA-II, which will choose a reasonable optimal design scheme for the marine condenser to satisfy different design requirements
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