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Prmtcd in Grca~ Britain ,c 1 1992 Pcrgnmon Press Ltd
Abstract-This paper shows that it is possible to distribute a finite amount of insulation in an optimal way
that minimizes the overall heat transfer rate from a nonisothermal wall to the ambient. The optimal
insulation thickness for a plane wall varies as the square root of the local wall-ambient temperature
difference. Corresponding variational-calculus results are developed for cylindrical walls covered with
insulation. The heat loss reduction associated with using the optimal thickness is greater when the wall is
plane. as opposed to cylindrical. and when the wall temperature variation in the x direction has a greater
second derivative, dT/dx. It is shown finally that the best insulation for a single-phase stream suspended
in an environment of different temperature is the insulation with uniform thickness.
NOMENCLATURE
lation of thermal conductivity k, and unspecified The questionnext is whetherthis heat transferrate
thicknesst(x). The outer surfaceof the insulation is (heat loss, or heat leak in cryogenics) can be
practically equalto T,,, in other words, the local ther- decreasedby redistributing the limited amount of
mal resistancefrom the wall surfaceto the ambientis insulation more wisely. While looking at the linear
due entirely to the insulation layer. The wall and its T(x) distribution shown in Fig. l(b), it makessense
insulation are sufficiently slenderin the x direction, to argue that an insulation that is thicker near the
sothat the heat transfer is oriented in the transversal x = Lend of the wall will be better. Indeed,absolutely
direction, from T(x) to To. The constraint that the no insulation is neededat the other extremity of the
amount of insulationmaterial is fixed meansthat the wall, becauseat x = 0 the wall-ambient temperature
volume integral differenceis zero.
L The simplestway of trying this ideais by having an
v= t(x) W dx (2) insulationdesignin which the thicknesst(x) increases
sa linearly from zero at x = 0 to a largeenoughvalue so
hasa constantvalue. An equivalent constraint is that that the volume constraint (3) is satisfied,Fig. 1(d)
the L-averagedinsulation thicknessis fixed
t(x) = 2&E. (6)
1 L
tnvg= - r(x)dx=& (3)
LCI
s In this casethe total heat transfer rate
The simplestdesign,of course,is the one in which L
TM - To dx
the insulation is spreadevenly over the wall surface q= kW (7)
L x W, Fig. 1(c) I0 N-4
ambient
r insulation, k
a)
t-T(x), wall surface
A
T(x)
TL -
b)
Tt-t
rTO
c)
d)
FIG. I. Plane wall with linear temperature distribution (b) and insulation with various thickness functions
(a, c, d).
The general problem in which the wall temperature in which K is shorthandfor the constant (k WL/I) 12.
T(x) and the insulation thickness t(x) are not specified This constant is determinedby substitutingequation
consists of minimizing the heat loss integral (7) subject (10) in the volume constraint (3), so that in the end
to the volume integral constraint (3). The objective is the optimal thicknessfunction is
to find the optimal distribution of insulation, top,(x), LA&
that minimizes the q integral (7). L,LW = L [T(x)-T,,]2. (11)
The variational-calculus solution is found by noting [T(x) - To] 2 dx
that the minimization of the integral (7) subject to the s0
integral constraint (3) is analogous to minimizing the The corresponding minimum heat transfer rate
aggregate integral [3,4] through the insulatedarea L x W is
52 A. BUAN
Yc
If the earlier designs (4) and (6) are compared with
4mm
the optimal design (I 3) for the wall with linearly vary-
ing temperature distribution, it is found that the heat n(n+ I -e)
loss in the earlier designs (5) and (8) is 12.5% larger
than the true minimum estimated in equation (14). In
(n < 0). (l7b)
the next two sections we will see that the difference
between the constant-r and optimal-r designs can be Figure 2 shows that the reduction in the heat loss
smaller or larger than this 12.5% difference, depend- through the insulation [(qc/qmin)-I] is greater when
ing on the wall shape (plane vs cylindrical) and the the insulation thickness varies optimally and the wall
wall temperature distribution (linear vs nonlinear). temperature function has positive curvature. When
The most important conclusion reached until now is the curvature is negative, the energy savings associ-
that a finite amount of insulation can be distributed ated with the optimal distribution of insulation
optimally (unevenly, in this case) so that the overall material are of the order of lo%, i.e. of the same order
insulation effect is maximized. as when the wall temperature varies linearly.
V=~~r2{[l+rl-l}dx (18)
exp n -1
( L>
T(x) = T,+(T,--T,) (15) The optimal insulation thickness I(X) can be deter-
exp (n) - 1
mined by applying once more the Lagrange multiplier
This temperature distribution is illustrated in the inset method of Section 3. The total heat transfer rate
Distribution of a finite amount of insulation 53
T(x)- To
TL-To
0
-1 0 1 2
n
FIG. 2. The effect of a nonlinear wall temperature distribution on the heat loss reduction due to using an
insulation with optimal thickness variation.
;-I:>
i
- --i-- _---
-0
i
AL.1
qmia
0.1
t opt (L)
r
FIG. 3. Cylindrical wall with linear temperature distribution: the heat loss reduction due to using an
insulation with optimal thickness variation.
rate that passes through the corresponding constant- like a thick shell around the cylinder, and the ratio
thickness insulation (t = favg) qc/qmindecreases. In conclusion, the heat loss
reduction due to using an optimal distribution of insu-
2nkL( 7-L - To)
6% = (25) lation on a cylinder is smaller than the reduction regis-
In(l+f) tered if the wall is plane.
The volume constraint (18) can be combined with
equation (23) to show that tavg/r = (1 +f) I - 1.
6. STREAM SUSPENDED IN AN
Figure 3 shows the relative reduction in heat loss
ENVIRONMENT OF DIFFERENT
to the ambient, when the design switches from the
TEMPERATURE
constant-l configuration to the lop,(x) distribution rec-
ommended by equation (20). The parameter that In all the variants of the optimization problem dis-
varies freely in the case of the cylindrical geometry is cussed until now it was assumed that the wall tem-
the relative insulation volume .f or, on the abscissa, perature distribution T(x) is not affected by the
the optimal insulation thickness at the x = .L end, amount of insulation and the manner in which this
fo,,Wlr. amount is distributed over the wall length. In this
The limit f-+ 0 represents an insulation that is so section, this modelling feature is discarded and atten-
thin (relative to r) that it can be treated as an insu- tion is turned to Fig. 4.
lation mounted on a plane wall. This means that the One of the simplest and most basic configurations in
solution developed in Section 3 for the plane wall with which the wall temperature distribution is intimately
linear T(x) is equivalent to setting ,f= 0 in Fig. 3. As coupled to the insulation performance is the stream
,f (or t,,,(L)/r) increases, the insulation looks more suspended in an environment of different temperature.
Distribution of a finite amount of insulation 55
TO ambient
insulation, k
1
w
hot stream T
~.--------.------------------------------.-~- +
h,Th r pipe wall T Out
r
0 X L
-2 -1 0 1 2
b
FIG. 4. Insulated stream suspended in an environment of different temperature : the effect of tapering the
layer of insulation.
This integral must be minimized,becausethe pur- if it is assumedfor simplicity that tavg<<r. The dimen-
poseof the insulationis to maintain the highestpos- sionlessparameterb accountsfor the taper, and has
sible T,,,. The maximization of the integral (28) is the range -2 < b < 2. If we further assume(as in
subjectto the volumeconstraint (18). The variational- Sections2-5) that the stream-ambientthermal resist-
calculusproblemboilsdown to minimizing the aggre- anceis dueentirely to the layer of insulation,in place
gateintegral of equation (28) we obtain
Tout
~
- To = exp
TI,- To
whoseintegrandislabelledF, in other words, { } = F. ParameterN is the numberof heat transfer units
The optimal function t(x) is the solution to the Euler
equation
aF
0. (30) In the specialcasewhen the insulation thicknessis
z= uniform (b = 0), equation (33) reducesto
This equationcan be written down by usingequation
U-out-T&o = exp (-N)
(26) for U[r(x)]. This last analytical stepis not necess- (35)
ary if we notice that U decreaseswhen t increases T,-To
(assumingthat r is greater than the critical radius The taperedand constant-thicknessdesignscan be
of insulation), while the secondterm in F (the one compared by examining the ratio (To,,- T,,)/
multiplied by A) increaseswhen t increases.This (To,,- T,,),=,. This ratio is plotted vs b and N in the
means,first, that F hasa minimumwith respectto I. lower part of Fig. 4. It reconfirmsthe conclusion(31)
That minimumcan bepinpointed by solvingequation that the best design (highest T,,,) is the one with
(30), but since all the other quantities that will be uniform distribution of insulation (b = 0). The
presentin that equation are x independent,the t(x) uniform-t designis superiorespeciallywhen the insu-
solution of equation (30) is simply lation supply (t,,.& is so small that the order of N
tOPf = constant. exceeds0.1.
(314
The actualconstantis evaluatedby forcing fop,to obey
7. CONCLUSIONS
the volume constraint (18)
The main conclusionsof this study are that :
(I) it is possibleto distribute a finite amount of
insulation in a certain, nontrivial way that minimizes
The sameconclusionis reachedif the rolesof the the total heat transfer rate from a nonisothermalwall
two integralsin @are reversed,i.e. if the amount of to the ambient;
insulationis minimizedsubjectto a fixed rate of heat (2) when the wall is plane, the optima1thicknessof
transfer to the ambient. It is a generalconclusion,in the insulation varies as the squareroot of the local
view of the many featuresincludedin the heattransfer wall-ambient temperaturedifference;
model (26). This conclusion differs from what we (3) the heatlossreductiondueto usingan insulation
found in Sections 2-5, becausein those earlier with optimal thicknessbecomesgreater as the cur-
examples we considered wall temperature distri- vature of the wall temperaturedistribution (d*T/dx*)
butions that do not dependon the insulation that is increases ;
appliedon them. (4) the heat lossreductiondueto usingan insulation
We learnedin this sectionthat the best insulation with optima1thicknesson a cylindrical wall is smaller
isalsothe simplest,i.e. the onewith uniform thickness. than on the correspondingplanewall ; and
It is fascinatingthat what engineershave beendoing (5) the best insulation for a single-phasestream
all along (no doubt, for easeof installation and suspended in an environmentof different temperature
expediency) is actually the optima1way of using a is the insulation with uniform thickness.
limited amount of insulationmaterial.
Without knowing this generalconclusion,it would REFERENCES
have been reasonableto argue that the better insu-
lation mustbethicker nearthe inlet (hot end), because 1. and
F. P. IncroperaandD. P.Dewitt, Fundamentals of Heat
Muss Transfer, 3rd Edn, pp. 799104.Wiley, New
in that region the stream-ambienttemperaturediffer- York (1990).
enceis larger than downstream.One option is to use 2. W. M. Rohsenow, J. P. HartnettandE. N. Ganic(eds),
the taperedinsulationshownin the upperpart of Fig. Handbook of Heal Transfer Applicalions, 2nd Edn, pp.
4, which is representedby (8-8)-(8-l 1). McGraw-Hill, New York (1985).
3. F. B. Hildebrand, Advanced Calculus for Applications, p.
355. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey (1962).
w = favg[I-b&;)] (32) 4. A. Bejan, Advanced Engineering Thermodynamics, p. 722.
Wiley, New York (1988).