Topology optimization of plate heat exchangers via geometry projection

Abstract

This study aims to advance the design of plate heat exchangers via a topology optimization framework. The design problem consists of determining the optimal layout and dimensions of the flow structure in the plates, which are herein modeled as offset bars. The geometry projection method is employed to map the geometric parameters that describe the bars onto a continuous pseudo-density field. As in density-based topology optimization techniques, this pseudo-density is used to perform the analysis through a suitable interpolation of material properties. A conjugate heat transfer analysis is performed to evaluate the performance of the heat exchanger. Taking advantage of the relatively small number of design parameters describing the flow structures, we employ an off-the-shelf solver and parallel computing to obtain design sensitivities using a finite difference approximation. The proposed method is applied to known benchmarks in topology optimization for fluids to verify its effectiveness. The method is subsequently applied to the design of a plate heat exchanger.