Heat exchanger networks synthesis considering dynamic flexibility

Previous studies on steady-state flexible design have shown that flexibility is essential to design profitable HENs undergoing the disturbances. However, chemical plants are complex dynamic systems that need to be operated successfully throughout the time in the presence of disturbances. Under these circumstances, the previous work should be extended to make dynamic flexible network engineered well. Based on the variation ranges of stream output temperatures, this paper proposes a feasible method for heat exchanger networks synthesis (HENS) involving dynamic flexibility. And then the above results are further analysed by considering the integration of dynamic flexibility and advanced control designs. This study begins with discretization of uncertainties and then generalized critical points are identified by the deviations of output temperatures derived from the simulation results containing the previous samples. Finally, the temperature variation ranges are defined as control range to optimize the degree of over-synthesis which generally introduces a waste of heat exchanger area for implementing flexible design, and to be an attractive alternative considering the coupling between dynamic flexible synthesis and control design. A case is subsequently considered to analyse the feasibility of the above framework and the significance of the proposed integration problem. Copyright © 2017, AIDIC Servizi S.r.l.