Sizing analysis of louvered fin flat tube compact heat exchanger by genetic algorithm

Abstract

In present work, a louvered fin flat tube type of compact heat exchanger (CHE) is considered for sizing analysis. Genetic algorithm (GA) is the optimization technique which is employed for doing sizing analysis for obtaining optimized set of parameters. Heat transfer enhancement of CHE is taken as objective function in GA which is considered as function of twelve sizing parameters covering the complete CHE geometry. These geometrical parameters are varied for the optimization objectives. Performance of CHE is evaluated based on the conditions of the geometrical parameters so obtained from GA and the corresponding heat transfer rate is calculated and compared with the heat transfer rate obtained from the original geometrical parameters. It is found that heat transfer rate enhanced by 22.56%, tube side compactness increased by 29.3% and fin side compactness increased by 25.3% with the optimized set of parameters. Sensitivity analysis is also carried out to study the effect of sizing parameters on heat transfer rate and compactness.