Manufacturing cost optimization of a shell and tube heat exchanger using the differential evolution algorithm

Abstract

An optimization procedure is performed using the Differential Evolution algorithm to obtain the optimum thermohydraulic and mechanical design values of a shell and tube heat exchanger with the minimum cost of manufacturing. The objective cost functions are developed for two different case studies with two different groups of decision variables based on an analytical generative cost model. The results show that the selection of decision variables has a considerable effect on the obtained design values and estimated manufacturing cost. Shell and tube heat exchanger manufacturers can benefit the introduced approach for the design optimization and manufacturing cost minimization process.