OPTIMISATION OF SHELL AND TUBE CONDENSER DESIGN

Abstract

Present work describes a .computerised procedure for the optimisation of a refrigeration shell and tube condenser design. It deals with the principles on which the design of a condenser is based. A detailed procedure adopted for the design of a shell and tube condenser is given. This procedure is then used in conjunction with a multi-dimensional constrained search method known as 'Box Complex method', to optimise the conden-ser design. The modifications suggested by Umeda and Ichikawa to improve the convergence rate of this method have also been incorporated. The optimisation is carried out to minimise the initial cost of the condenser. A computer program has been developed to implement the methodology for condenser optimisation. An illustrative example is presented to show the type of results that can be achieved from this optimisation procedure. It has been verified that the results obtained from this method are optimum. Even-tuality of the method converging on a local optimum has .lso been discussed and remedy suggested which avoids the possibi-lity of obtaining a wrong design. Finally to demonstrate the effectivenss of this method a shell and tube condenser, designed earlier by employing conventional design procedure, is optimized and the results compared. It is seen that there is an improvement of about 25 percent in the cost of the equipment.