Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Archives of Computational Methods in Engineering https://doi.org/10.1007/s11831-019-09318-y ORIGINAL PAPER Design Optimization of Heat Exchangers with Advanced Optimization Techniques: A Review R. Venkata Rao 1  · Ankit Saroj 1  · Pawel Ocloń 2  · Jan Taler 2 Received: 18 August 2018 / Accepted: 16 February 2019 © CIMNE, Barcelona, Spain 2019 Abstract This literature review presents the extensive literature survey of various heat exchangers (HEs) for the design optimization using advanced optimization techniques concerning with various aspects. The chief objective of this work is to focus on the parametric design optimization of different types of HEs using advanced optimization algorithms and therefore only the research works associated with advanced optimization techniques are considered. This is the first paper which exclusively summaries the research works concerning with the parameter optimization of HEs using advanced optimization techniques. Various types of HEs considered in this review paper are shell-and-tube HEs, plate-fin HEs, fin-tube HEs and various configu- rations of HE networks etc. The parametric design optimization of HEs is associated with number of structural and physical parameters having highly complexity. Trial and error method is used in the general design approaches and this becomes tediously and time consuming and not having the guarantee of getting an optimum design. Therefore, for the design of HEs advanced optimization techniques are preferred. The review work on parametric design optimization was not attempted previ- ously by taking into consideration various types of HEs therefore this review paper may turn into the complete information at one place and it may be very useful to the industrial design and successive researchers to choose the direction of their research work in the field of parameter optimization of HEs using advanced optimization algorithm. 1 Introduction A heat exchanger (HE) is a device which is used for recover- ing the thermal energy between two or more fluids kept at different temperature. Various types of heat exchangers are available in the industry i.e. shell-and-tube heat exchang- ers (STHE), plate-fin heat exchangers (PFHE), fin-and- tube heat exchanger (FTHE), gasket heat exchanger, and various configurations of heat exchanger networks (HENs) etc. The design of these HEs is based on various geomet- ric and operational parameters while meeting with certain specified objective(s) such as minimum total cost, maxi- mum heat transfer rate, minimized weight etc. with certain specified constraint(s) such as constrained associated with maximum pressure drop, minimum and maximum fluid flow velocity, structural constraint etc. These HEs are used in various industries as process equipment e.g. heats recovery, refrigeration, cryogenics, food processing and many other industries. PFHEs and STHEs are the widely used heat exchangers for industrial and as well as commercial applications. The STHE is the HE in which on fluid is carried by tube and the other fluid is carried by shell. The heat transfer takes place by mean mutual heat transfer between the tube and shell side fluid. The design of STHE depends upon many geometrical parameters i.e. shell diameter, tube diameter, number tubes, baffle spacing, number of tube passes, tube length, tube lay- out etc. and operational parameters i.e. specification of heat pump, fluid flow velocity inside the tube and shell, fouling resistance etc. PFHEs are the HE in which transfer of heat takes place between two fluids by means of plates and finned chambers. The design of PFHE depends upon many struc- tural parameters i.e. fin height, length and thickness, length of fluids flow, no flow length, number of fins, fin frequency etc. and many operational parameters. Similarly, the design of other HEs depends upon many structural and operational parameters. The HENs design uses a detailed analysis for the opti- mum design of heat exchangers. It employs three concepts: * R. Venkata Rao ravipudirao@gmail.com 1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat 395 007, India 2 Institute of Thermal Power Engineering, Cracow University of Technology, Kraków, Poland