Thermal design and constrained optimization of a fin and tube heat exchanger using differential evolution algorithm

Afsharzadeh, Nader (author), Eftekhari Yazdi, Mohammad (author), Mirabdolah Lavasani, Arash (author)

Fin and tube heat exchangers (FTHEs) are utilized for gas-liquid applications frequently. In the current study, a differential evolution (DE) algorithm and JDE as its variant, with α-level constraint-handling technique, are effectively applied to optimize an FTHE. Total weight and total annual cost are selected as objective functions. Seven design variables are taken into consideration: outside tube diameter, transverse pitch, longitudinal pitch, fin pitch, number of tube rows, height, and width of shape. Meanwhile, the logarithmic mean temperature difference (LMTD) method is used for heat transfer analysis under identical conditions such as mass flow rate, inlet and outlet temperatures, heat duty, and other thermal properties. The research findings indicate that the implementation of the DE algorithm coupled with α-level comparison method on optimization problems leads to better solutions for both objective functions compared with those achieved by other approaches such as the genetic algorithm (GA) and heat transfer search (HTS) algorithm. In addition, a parametric analysis is performed for design parameters at the optimum points to show the effects on the objective functions and to identify the feasible design space. The proposed method is straightforward and can generally be employed for thermal design and optimization of FTHEs as well as any other type of compact heat exchangers (CHEs) under different specified duties.

• Language: English
• Keywords: fin and tube heat exchanger, thermal design, constrained optimization, differential evolution (DE) algorithm, total weight, total annual cost
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FS - Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: 11 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 71, no. 1/2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-178342
• UDC: 621
• ISSN on article: 2536-3948
• DOI: 10.5545/sv-jme.2023.887
• COBISS.SI-ID: 227949315
• Publication date in RUL: 23.01.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Strojniški vestnik
• Shortened title: Stroj. vestn.
• Publisher: Fakulteta za strojništvo
• ISSN: 2536-3948
• COBISS.SI-ID: 294943232

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian

Abstract

Cevno orebreni prenosniki toplote (COPT) so vrsta kompaktnih prenosnikov toplote (KPT), ki je razširjena v aplikacijah prenosa toplote med plini in tekočinami. V pričujoči študiji se za optimizacijo COPT učinkovito uporabljata algoritem diferencialne evolucije (DE) in njegova različica JDE s tehniko obvladovanja omejitev na ravni α. Za ciljni funkciji sta bili izbrani skupna teža in letni strošek obratovanja prenosnika toplote. Zajetih je bilo sedem konstrukcijskih spremenljivk: zunanji premer cevi, prečni razmik, vzdolžni razmik, razmik reber, število vrst cevi, višina in širina oblike. Za analizo prenosa toplote pod enakimi pogoji, kot so masni pretok, vstopna in izstopna temperatura, toplotna obremenitev in druge toplotne lastnosti, se uporablja metoda srednje logaritemske temperaturne razlike. Za reševanje optimizacijskih problemov so bistveno primernejši metahevristični iskalni algoritmi. Pri obeh ciljnih funkcijah so se izboljšali rezultati v primerjavi z genetskim algoritmom (GA) in tako imenovanim algoritmom iskanja prenosa toplote. Parametrična analiza je potrdila, da sta vrednosti ciljnih funkcij minimalni pri najmanjši vrednosti prečnega razmika. Predlagana metoda je preprosta in v splošnem uporabna pri termodinamičnem snovanju in optimizaciji COPT in drugih vrst KPT za različne namene.

• Keywords: cevno rebrasti prenosnik toplote, termodinamična zasnova, optimizacija z omejitvami, diferencialni evolucijski (DE) algoritem, skupna teža, skupni letni strošek