Abstract:

The heat exchanger network plays important roles in energy recovery, energy saving and consumption reduction of chemical processes. The traditional heat exchanger network synthesis method optimizes parameters and structures with economic goal, which leads to strong coupling for process units and increases control difficulties. Either a single heat exchanger device or the entire network is inevitably interfered by uncertain factors in the practical chemical processes, thus, it is important to synthesize a controllable heat exchanger network that can withstand the disturbance caused by uncertain factors. In this paper, a synthesis method of controllable heat exchanger network is proposed with the consideration of the interaction between the network structure and the controllability of the heat exchanger network. The influences of decision variables on network structure are explored based on multi-scenario optimization. Then the flexibility index is used to measure the feasibility of the system, and the heat exchanger network is further optimized to resist uncertainties. Finally, a case study is carried out to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method.

Key words: systems engineering, heat exchanger network, uncertainty, multi-scenario, process control, optimization

摘要：

换热器网络在化工生产过程中起着能量回收、节能降耗的重要作用。常规换热器网络综合方法以经济性为目标进行参数和结构优化，导致换热设备之间的强烈耦合从而引起潜在的控制困难。此外，在实际生产中，无论是单个换热设备还是整个网络都不可避免地受到一些不确定性因素的干扰，故能够抵御这些扰动的可控性换热器网络是至关重要的。通过考虑网络结构与可控性之间的相互作用，提出可控性换热器网络综合方法，并基于多工况优化探究了决策变量对网络结构的影响。然后以柔性指数衡量扰动存在情况下换热器网络操作可行性，进一步优化换热器网络结构以抵御不确定性因素的干扰。最后，通过算例分析验证了该方法的可行性与有效性。

关键词: 系统工程, 换热器网络, 不确定性, 多工况, 过程控制, 优化