GENETIC ALGORITHM BASED OPTIMIZATION OF COMPACT HEAT EXCHANGERS: A REVIEW

Abstract: The present study is concentrated on optimization of Compact Heat exchangers. The task of optimization may be considered as a design process, in which any possible candidates will be evaluated based on requirements. Savings of materials or energy, as well as capital cost and operating cost, are common objectives for industrial applications of heat exchangers. On the other hand, heat exchanger design involves complex processes, including selection of geometrical parameters and operating (dynamic) parameters for the design, cost estimation and optimization. In recent years, applications of Genetic Algorithm (GA) in thermal engineering have received much attention for solving real-world problems. Applications of GA into heat exchangers optimization have suggested that they have a strong ability of search and combined optimization and they can successfully optimize and predict thermal problems. At this point, the GA technique may be used in the geometrical optimization of heat exchangers in order to obtain optimal results under specified design objectives within the allowable pressure drops.

Keywords: Compact heat exchanger, Genetic algorithm, Optimization.