Constructal design of printed circuit recuperator for S-CO2 cycle via multi-objective optimization algorithm

Based on a constructal theory, the structure design of a printed circuit recuperator with a semicircular heat transfer channel for supercritical CO2 cycle is carried out. First, a complex function composed of weighted sum of the reciprocal of total heat transfer rate and total pumping power consumption is regarded as an optimization objective, and total volumes of the recuperator and heat transfer channel are regarded as constraints. The optimal heat transfer channel radius and minimum complex function of the recuperator are obtained. It turns out that heat transfer rate, pumping power consumption, and complex function under the optimal construct of recuperator are reduced by 15.10%, 82.44%, and 32.33%, respectively. There exists the optimal single plate channel number which results in the double minimum complex function. Second, for the purpose of minimizing the reciprocal of heat transfer rate and pumping power consumption, NSGA-II algorithm is used to achieve multi-objective optimization, and the minimum deviation index derived by the decision-making methods is 0.076, which can be taken as multi-objective optimal design scheme for printed circuit recuperator with semicircular heat transfer channels. The findings presented here can serve as theoretical recommendations for the structure design of printed circuit recuperator.