A mathematical framework for design and optimization of regenerative storage heater

The Regenerative Storage Heater (RSH) is employed in Hypersonic Wind Tunnel (HWT) to prevent liquefaction of air during expansion in the high Mach number nozzles. Design of RSH is a multi-variable iterative process depends on the total energy required, the exit temperature of the air and the duration of blowdown. Arriving at the optimal design of RSH is essential as it has a high economic impact. After arriving at the design, evaluation of the performance of RSH for all the possible operating conditions prior to manufacturing is critical. The current research work addresses the challenge by evolving a mathematical framework using multi-objective optimization functions. MATLAB based integrated Graphical User Interface (GUI) has been developed to study the design and analysis simultaneously. This GUI framework defines the inputs, constraints and the parameters of optimal design for the RSH and calculates the optimal size of the RSH. The paper presents the details of the size of the heater for multi hole multi brick configuration in the RSH for a given input conditions of a Mach 5.0 wind tunnel heater case. The current research also presents the details of the temperature profiles of the bed during heating and blowdown cycles. Finally, framework has been used to design the heater for one of the known published data. It is found that the predicted performance of RSH is in good agreement with the published data. This has established the accuracy of the developed framework.