Design Analysis of Shell Tube Type Heat Exchanger

Shell and Tube heat exchangers are having special importance in boilers, oil coolers, condensers, pre-heaters.They are also widely used in process applications as well as the refrigeration and air conditioning industry.The robustness and medium weighted shape of Shell and Tube heat exchangers make them well suited for high pressure operations.The basic configuration of shell and tube heat exchangers, the thermal analysis and design of such exchangers form an included part of the mechanical, thermal, chemical engineering scholars for their curriculum and research activity.This report presents the application of Differential Evolution (DE) for the optimal design of shell-and-tube heat exchangers.The main objective in any heat exchanger design is the estimation of the minimum heat transfer area required for a given heat duty, as it governs the overall cost of the heat exchanger.Many configurations are possible with various design variables such as outer diameter, pitch, and length of the tubes; tube passes; baffle spacing; baffle cut etc.Hence the design engineer needs an efficient strategy in searching for the global minimum.