A confluence-based expert system for the detection of heat exchanger fouling
- Inst. Superior Tecnico, Lisbon (Portugal)
Efficiency assessment of heat exchangers ensures appropriate use of the available energy. This article presents the concept of a heat exchanger on-line expert system based on qualitative reasoning. Using confluence of the heat exchanger effectiveness defined by the NTU (number of transfer units) concept for the simple parallel-stream heat exchanger, the methodology is developed to be used for the description of the generic behavior of those situations leading to the degradation of the effectiveness of the heat exchanger. The article describes the selection of the diagnostic variables, and their on-line measurements including the logging system for monitoring and acquisition of the data. For a specific heat exchanger, the expert system assessment was performed for a number of different situations. An appropriate diagnostic system in the specified time period produces a set of readings of the diagnostic variables, describing the state of the system. The set of diagnostic variables converted into the confluence parameters constitutes the qualitative description of the instantaneous state of the system. A retrieval strategy is used to find the corresponding state in the knowledge base with the set of the parameters describing the individual malfunction state of the system. Each malfunction state is accompanied by a recommendation for its correction specified by expert advice.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- OSTI ID:
- 289977
- Journal Information:
- Heat Transfer Engineering, Vol. 19, Issue 2; Other Information: PBD: Apr-Jun 1998
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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