Technoeconomic optimization of superalloy supercritical CO2 microtube shell-and-tube-heat exchangers
Akshay Bharadwaj Krishna, Kaiyuan Jin, P. S. Ayyaswamy, I. Catton, Timothy S. Fisher
Abstract
Heat exchangers are critical components of aerospace systems and improve efficiency of operation by providing waste heat recovery. Supercritical CO2 has emerged as a promising candidate working fluid due to its potential in increasing the power density of heat exchangers. In this paper, a generalized costing model is developed to estimate the capital costs incurred to manufacture microtube shell-and-tube heat exchangers. This model is utilized in conjunction with an accurate and efficient 2D numerical shell-and-tube heat exchanger performance prediction model to conduct optimization studies with two key objectives – minimization of cost and maximization of heat exchanger power density – on supercritical CO2 microtube heat exchangers utilizing superalloy Haynes 282 as the solid material. A methodology is then demonstrated to optimize these heat exchangers using Particle Swarm Optimization for aerospace applications and highly compact and cost-effective optimal designs with power density around 20 kW/kg and cost per conductance less than 5 $⋅K/W are obtained.