Question 2
Consider the following cascade of heat exchangers,
100°F
T?
T?
500°F
Hex 1
Hex 2
Hex 3
300°F
400°F
600°F
T?
T?
T?
Find the minimum total surface area of the three heat exchangers.
Data: $mc_p$ = 1000 (Btu h?¹ F?¹) (all streams)
Exchanger
U (Btu h?¹ ft?² F?¹)
Area (ft²)
Duty (Btu h?¹)
1
120
A?
Q?
2
80
A?
Q?
3
40
A?
Q?
Marking criteria
- Formulate the optimisation problem (equations and words, justifying use of
equations)
- Show spreadsheet implementation - professionally constructed, logical input output
structure, results clearly demonstrated.
- Discussion and quantification of any uncertainty associated with the result.