Design optimization and validation of high-performance heat exchangers using approximation assisted optimization and additive manufacturing

The airside thermal resistance of air-to-fluid heat exchangers dominates the overall thermal resistance. On conventional heat exchanger's, fins are required to address such challenges; but their benefits are not limitless and are bound mainly by the tube size and shape. The reduction of the tube characteristic length has favorable impact on compactness and heat transfer. Conventional tubes are typically limited to round, elliptical or flat shapes which result in particular thermal-hydraulic characteristics. The current article has three main objectives. First, discuss the importance of fins on typical air-to-fluid heat exchanger's and how they become unattractive at smaller characteristic lengths with numerical analyses to support this argument from different perspectives. Second, present a proof-of-concept design with small finless tubes and a novel shape that can outperform a microchannel heat exchanger. Third, present a comprehensive analysis with shape optimization leveraging automated computational fluid dynamics simulations and approximation assisted optimization techniques. Optimum designs can achieve more than 50% reduction in size, material, and pressure drop compared to the baseline microchannel heat exchanger. The method is validated with the experimental validation of a metal three-dimensional printed prototype of the NTHX-001. The numerical simulations agreed within less than 5% in capacity, 10% in air heat transfer coefficient, and 15% in air pressure drop.