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A knowledge based system has been developed to assist engineers in the design of compact heat exchangers. The main objectives of this project were to: (1) automate aspects of heat exchanger design; (2) produce multiple successful designs quickly; and (3) optimize these designs based on specific constraints or criteria. Productivity improvements from use of this system have been as much as two orders of magnitude. The design of heat exchangers is a time-consuming, iterative process. For a given set of requirements a design engineer uses his knowledge and experience to pick an initial design point and then calculates (with a large Fortran program) the performance for that design. If performance data do not meet requirements, various design parameters are modified and performance is calculated again. An expert system now embodies design expertise (rules for design decisions) allowing automation of this iterative process and substantial time savings for engineers. In addition, optimizing successful designs is now practical, whereas in the past it was generally infeasible due to the amount of labor involved. A configuration system was also developed that serves as a `front- end' for the design system. The configuration system matches design requirements to existing products and offers suggestions for initial design points. Both were developed with the KAPPA knowledge based system shell. The two KAPPA programs and the Fortran program for numerical calculations are integrated within a Windows 3.1 environment on a 486 PC.© (1993) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only. |
