ANN-aided optimization study on thermal performance and energy consumption of an industrial shell-and-tube heat exchanger system

Sahin Gungor

doi:10.24294/tse11618

Home - TSE - Volume 8 - Issue 2

Submit to TSE

Journal Browser

Volume | Year

Issue

• Current lssue

View All

News and Announcements

View All

ANN-aided optimization study on thermal performance and energy consumption of an industrial shell-and-tube heat exchanger system

Sahin Gungor

Thermal Science and Engineering 2025, 8(2); https://doi.org/10.24294/tse11618

Submitted：21 Mar 2025

Accepted：21 Mar 2025

Published：28 May 2025

Download PDF(1.72M)

XML

Abstract

Global energy agencies and commissions report a sharp increase in energy demand based on commercial, industrial, and residential activities. At this point, we need energy-efficient and high-performance systems to maintain a sustainable environment. More than 30% of the generated electricity has been consumed by HVAC-R units, and heat exchangers are the main components affecting the overall performance. This study combines experimental measurements, numerical investigations, and ANN-aided optimization studies to determine the optimal operating conditions of an industrial shell and tube heat exchanger system. The cold/hot stream temperature level is varied between 10 ℃ and 50 ℃ during the experiments and numerical investigations. Furthermore, the flow rates are altered in a range of 50–500 L/h to investigate the thermal and hydraulic performance under laminar and turbulent regime conditions. The experimental and numerical results indicate that U-tube bundles dominantly affect the total pumping power; therefore, the energy consumption experienced at the cold side is about ten times greater the one at the hot side. Once the required data sets are gathered via the experiments and numerical investigations, ANN-aided stochastic optimization algorithms detected the C10H50 scenario as the optimal operating case when the cold and hot stream flow rates are at 100 L/h and 500 L/h, respectively.

Keywords

References

1. United Nations. In: Proceedings of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27); 2023.

2. International Energy Agency. Renewable Electricity Technical Report. Available online: https://www.iea.org/reports/renewable-electricity (accessed on 15 March 2025).

3. International Energy Agency. Buildings Technical Report. Available online: https://www.iea.org/reports/buildings (accessed on 15 March 2025).

4. Chenari B, Dias Carrilho J, Gameiro da Silva M. Towards sustainable, energy-efficient and healthy ventilation strategies in buildings: A review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 2016; 59: 1426–1447. doi: 10.1016/j.rser.2016.01.074

5. Tian J, Yu L, Xue R, et al. Global low-carbon energy transition in the post-COVID-19 era. Applied Energy. 2022; 307: 118205. doi: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2021.118205

6. Taş E, Güngör Ş. Design and analytical investigation on air-to-air cross flow heat exchanger of an industrial heat recovery ventilation system. Scientia cum Industria. 2023; 11(1): e231103. doi: 10.18226/23185279.e231103

7. Said Z, Rahman S, Sharma P, et al. Performance characterization of a solar-powered shell and tube heat exchanger utilizing MWCNTs/water-based nanofluids: An experimental, numerical, and artificial intelligence approach. Applied Thermal Engineering. 2022; 212: 118633. doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2022.118633

8. Laszczyk P. Simplified modeling of liquid-liquid heat exchangers for use in control systems. Applied Thermal Engineering. 2017; 119: 140–155. doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2017.03.033

9. Yang X, Guo J, Zhao S, et al. High shear mixer works as a heat exchanger enhancing the liquid–liquid direct contact heat transfer. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer. 2023; 200: 123547. doi: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2022.123547

10. Fratczak M, Czeczot J, Nowak P, et al. Practical validation of the effective control of liquid–liquid heat exchangers by distributed parameter balance-based adaptive controller. Applied Thermal Engineering. 2018; 129: 549–556. doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2017.10.056

11. Jige D, Sugihara K, Inoue N. Evaporation heat transfer and flow characteristics of vertical upward flow in a plate-fin heat exchanger. International Journal of Refrigeration. 2022; 133: 165–171. doi: 10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2021.09.030

12. Węglarz K, Taler D, Taler J. New non-iterative method for computation of tubular cross-flow heat exchangers. Energy. 2022; 260: 124955. doi: 10.1016/j.energy.2022.124955

13. Geoffroy H, Berger J, Gonze E, et al. Experimental dataset for an AHU air-to-air heat exchanger with normal and simulated fault operations. Journal of Building Performance Simulation. 2022; 16(3): 268–290. doi: 10.1080/19401493.2022.2097311

14. Lee S, Chung Y, Jeong Y, et al. Investigation on the performance enhancement of electric vehicle heat pump system with air-to-air regenerative heat exchanger in cold condition. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments. 2022; 50: 101791. doi: 10.1016/j.seta.2021.101791

15. Zeng C, Liu S, Shukla A. A review on the air-to-air heat and mass exchanger technologies for building applications. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 2017; 75: 753–774. doi: 10.1016/j.rser.2016.11.052

16. Tang F, Nowamooz H. Factors influencing the performance of shallow Borehole Heat Exchanger. Energy Conversion and Management. 2019; 181: 571–583. doi: 10.1016/j.enconman.2018.12.044

17. Kim M, Ha MY, Min JK. A numerical study on various pin–fin shaped surface air–oil heat exchangers for an aero gas-turbine engine. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer. 2016; 93: 637–652. doi: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2015.10.035

18. Alrwashdeh SS, Ammari H, Madanat MA, et al. The Effect of Heat Exchanger Design on Heat transfer Rate and Temperature Distribution. Emerging Science Journal. 2022; 6(1): 128–137. doi: 10.28991/esj-2022-06-01-010

19. Ariyo DO, Bello-Ochende T. Constructal design of two-phase stacked microchannel heat exchangers for cooling at high heat flux. International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer. 2021; 125: 105294. doi: 10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2021.105294

20. Jin Y, Gao N, Zhu T. Controlled variable analysis of counter flow heat exchangers based on thermodynamic derivation. Applied Thermal Engineering. 2018; 129: 684–692. doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2017.10.025

21. Mangrulkar CK, Dhoble AS, Chamoli S, et al. Recent advancement in heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics in cross flow heat exchangers. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 2019; 113: 109220. doi: 10.1016/j.rser.2019.06.027

22. Feng CN, Liang CH, Li ZX. Friction factor and heat transfer evaluation of cross-corrugated triangular flow channels with trapezoidal baffles. Energy and Buildings. 2022; 257: 111816. doi: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2021.111816

23. Wang S, Wen J, Li Y. An experimental investigation of heat transfer enhancement for a shell-and-tube heat exchanger. Applied Thermal Engineering. 2009; 29(11-12): 2433–2438. doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2008.12.008

24. Ozden E, Tari I. Shell side CFD analysis of a small shell-and-tube heat exchanger. Energy Conversion and Management. 2010; 51(5): 1004–1014. doi: 10.1016/j.enconman.2009.12.003

25. Wang Q, Chen Q, Chen G, et al. Numerical investigation on combined multiple shell-pass shell-and-tube heat exchanger with continuous helical baffles. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer. 2009; 52(5-6): 1214–1222. doi: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2008.09.009

26. Abbasian Arani AA, Moradi R. Shell and tube heat exchanger optimization using new baffle and tube configuration. Applied Thermal Engineering. 2019; 157: 113736. doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2019.113736

27. Gao B, Bi Q, Nie Z, et al. Experimental study of effects of baffle helix angle on shell-side performance of shell-and-tube heat exchangers with discontinuous helical baffles. Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science. 2015; 68: 48–57. doi: 10.1016/j.expthermflusci.2015.04.011

28. Costa ALH, Queiroz EM. Design optimization of shell-and-tube heat exchangers. Applied Thermal Engineering. 2008; 28(14-15): 1798–1805. doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2007.11.009

29. Patel VK, Rao RV. Design optimization of shell-and-tube heat exchanger using particle swarm optimization technique. Applied Thermal Engineering. 2010; 30(11-12): 1417–1425. doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2010.03.001

30. Ponce-Ortega JM, Serna-González M, Jiménez-Gutiérrez A. Use of genetic algorithms for the optimal design of shell-and-tube heat exchangers. Applied Thermal Engineering. 2009; 29(2-3): 203–209. doi: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2007.06.040

31. Gungor S. Experimental comparison on energy consumption and heat transfer performance of corrugated H-type and L-type brazed plate heat exchangers. International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer. 2023; 144: 106763. doi: 10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2023.106763

32. Turhan C, Çeter AE. A novel occupant detection-based ventilation control strategy for smart building applications. Mugla Journal of Science and Technology. 2021; 7(2): 24–35. doi: 10.22531/muglajsci.928315

33. Fox RW, McDonald AT, Pritchard PJ, Mitchell JW. Introduction to Fluid Mechanics. Wiley; 2014.

34. Bejan A. Convection Heat Transfer. Wiley; 2013.

35. Stanford University. Turbulent flow technical report. Available online: https://web.stanford.edu/class/me469b/handouts/turbulence.pdf (accessed on 15 March 2025).

36. ANSYS, Inc. ANSYS Fluent Theory Guide, Release 18.2. ANSYS, Inc; 2017.

37. Güngör S, Ceyhan U, Karadeniz ZH. Optimization of heat transfer in a grooved pipe model by Stochastic Algorithms and DOE based RSM. International Journal of Thermal Sciences. 2021; 159: 106634. doi: 10.1016/j.ijthermalsci.2020.106634

38. Aydin L, Artem HS, Oterkus S. Designing engineering structures using stochastic optimization methods. CRC Press; 2020.

39. Cavazzuti M. Optimization Methods: From theory to design scientific and technological aspects in mechanics. Springer Berlin Heidelberg; 2013.

40. Wolfram Research, Inc. Wolfram Mathematica, Release 11.3. Wolfram Research, Inc; 2018.

41. Incropera FP, Dewitt DP, Bergman TL, Lavine AS. Principles of Heat and Mass Transfer. Wiley; 2017.

Previous
article in this issue

Next
article in this issue