Automated determination of enthalpy flow pathways in heat exchanger networks

Abstract

The functional structure of any Heat Exchanger Network (HEN) can be represented as a graph, i.e., a mathematical abstraction of structural relationship between discrete objects, acoording to Mah [1]. In HEN parlance objects of nodes or vertexes to translate as heat exchangers (HXs) and the structural relationship of edges as the set of convetive (streams) and thermal connections between them. A path is a sequence of distinct and consecutive edges (and the associated vertexes) between two vertexes. And a circuit, a cycle or a loop is a path with the two terminal vertexes being the same. The aim of this work is to establish in a clear way and over sound foundations the fundamnetals of path-finiding in HENs, as well as to propose a detailed procedure enabling practical, automated implementation.