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A New Design Parameter ‐ “the Fit Factor” for the Retrofit Design of Heat Recovery Systems
Author(s) -
AlFakih N.,
O'Neill B. K.,
Roach J. R.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
developments in chemical engineering and mineral processing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1932-2143
pISSN - 0969-1855
DOI - 10.1002/apj.5500060504
Subject(s) - heat exchanger , process (computing) , block (permutation group theory) , investment (military) , engineering , field (mathematics) , reliability engineering , computer science , industrial engineering , mechanical engineering , mathematics , geometry , politics , law , political science , pure mathematics , operating system
Retrofit design of heat recovery networks is an increasingly significant industrial problem. Such concern is driven by two factors ‐ the old and non‐optimal designs of many existing process plants coupled with increased economic and environmental pressures to improve their energy efficiency. In this paper, a new evaluation technique for the retrofit design of heat exchanger networks is presented. The ‘block design’ philosophy proposed by Zhu et al. (1) provides the basis for development of the method The retrofit situation differs considerably from the design of green‐field networks. A clear objective of the designer in the retrofit situation is to optimise the incremental investment expended in changing the existing network. To aid in achieving this goal, a new parameter “K” is defined to enable the engineer to identify well‐placed existing units and to highlight areas that would benefit from change. The new method identifies all of the available options and indicates the candidate exchangers for retention within the network together with situations likely to benefit from modification. Examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.