Multi-objective optimization of printed circuit heat exchanger with airfoil fins based on the improved PSO-BP neural network and the NSGA-II algorithm

Abstract

The printed circuit heat exchanger (PCHE) with airfoil fins has the benefits of high compactness, high efficiency and superior heat transfer performance. A novel multi-objective optimization approach is presented to design the airfoil fin PCHE in this paper. Three optimization design variables (the vertical number, the horizontal number and the staggered number) are obtained by means of dimensionless airfoil fin arrangement parameters. And the optimization objective is to maximize the Nusselt number (Nu) and minimize the Fanning friction factor (f). Firstly, in order to investigate the impact of design variables on the thermal-hydraulic performance, a parametric study via the design of experiments is proposed. Subsequently, the relationships between three optimization design variables and two objective functions (Nu and f) are characterized by an improved particle swarm optimization-backpropagation artificial neural network. Finally, a multi-objective optimization is used to construct the Pareto optimal front, in which the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II is used. The comprehensive performance is found to be the best when the airfoil fins are completely staggered arrangement. And the best compromise solution based on the TOPSIS method is identified as the optimal solution, which can achieve the requirement of high heat transfer performance and low flow resistance.