Rule-based Mamdani-type fuzzy modelling of thermal performance of fintube evaporator under frost conditions

Frost formation brings about insulating effects over the surface of a heat exchanger and thereby deteriorating total heat transfer of the heat exchanger. In this study, a fin-tube evaporator is modeled by making use of Rule-based Mamdani-Type Fuzzy (RBMTF) logic where total heat transfer, air inlet temperature of 2 degrees C to 7 degrees C and four different fluid speed groups (ual=1; 1.44; 1.88 m s-1, ua2=2.32; 2.76 m s-1, ua3=3.2; 3.64 m s-1, ua4=4.08; 4.52; 4.96 m s-1) for the evaporator were taken into consideration. In the developed RBMTF system, outlet parameter UA was determined using inlet parameters Ta and ua. The RBMTF was trained and tested by using MATLAB (R) fuzzy logic toolbox. R-2 (%) for the training data and test data were found to be 99.91%. With this study, it has been shown that RBMTF model can be reliably used in determination of a total heat transfer of a fm-tube evaporator.