Xiao Yuan, Cui Guomin
Shanghai Key Laboratory Multiphase Flow and Heat Transfer in Power Engineering, School of Energy and Power Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, 20093, China.
Heliyon. 2023 Oct 11;9(10):e20574. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e20574. eCollection 2023 Oct.
Synthesis of mass exchanger network (MEN) is significant to save the material and reduce the pollution for process industries. Considering its small magnitude and concentration constraints, the optimized configuration of MEN can easily violate the concentration constraints, leading to a reduction in the structural diversity during the optimization process compared to that of a heat exchanger network (HEN) of the same size. Moreover, the constraint on the mass transfer driving force based on the equilibrium composition may also have major effects on the optimization process. To address these issues, this study presents a process-equipment-system analogy between the MEN and the HEN, proposing a novel mass-heat exchange network analogy, regression, and synthesis method. First, the generalized HEN was established by using an analogy considering the MEN based on either the original composition or the equilibrium composition. In this regard, a coordination coefficient was introduced to correct the deviation of the analogy relationship between the heat transfer and the mass transfer processes. Then, the generalized HEN was optimized by employing the random walk algorithm with compulsive evolution (RWCE). A regression method was proposed to regress the optimized HEN solution to the MEN expression, allowing the continuous optimization by using the RWCE with finer parameters. The final optimal solution obtained was found to be lower than those reported in the literature with enhanced structural diversity, demonstrating the effectiveness of the presented method and providing new ideas for further synchronous optimization of combined heat and mass exchanger networks.
质量交换器网络（MEN）的综合对于过程工业节约物料和减少污染具有重要意义。考虑到其规模小和浓度约束，MEN的优化配置很容易违反浓度约束，导致与相同规模的热交换器网络（HEN）相比，优化过程中的结构多样性降低。此外，基于平衡组成的传质驱动力约束也可能对优化过程产生重大影响。为了解决这些问题，本研究提出了MEN与HEN之间的过程 - 设备 - 系统类比，提出了一种新颖的质 - 热交换网络类比、回归和综合方法。首先，通过基于原始组成或平衡组成考虑MEN的类比建立广义HEN。在此方面，引入了一个协调系数来校正传热与传质过程之间类比关系的偏差。然后，采用强制进化随机游走算法（RWCE）对广义HEN进行优化。提出了一种回归方法，将优化后的HEN解回归为MEN表达式，从而可以使用具有更精细参数的RWCE进行连续优化。结果表明，最终得到的最优解低于文献报道的结果，且结构多样性增强，证明了所提方法的有效性，并为进一步同步优化组合式热质交换器网络提供了新思路。
