Optimisation and Industrial Experimentation

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Chapters 5, 6 & 7 are concerned, quahtatlvely, with the use of enhanced heat transfer m compact heat exchangers, air coolers and special surface geometries Chapters 8 & 9 are concerned with heat pumps and with waste heat recovery Overall I feel there 1s an Imbalance between the excellent quantltatlve approach of chapters 2, 3 & 4 and the quahtatlve approach of the remaining chapters although there 1s a wealth of mformatlon m these chapters It IS a book I can well recommend as supplementary material to courses on heat transfer P RICE

Liquid-Llquld Equihbrium and Extraction, a hterature source book. Part A. by J Wlsmak and A James Elsevler, xx11 + 1252 pp , price Dfl375/$198

This book represents part of an extensive compllatlon of references to the pubhshed literature on hquld-liquid equlhbnum Part A contains compounds up to curlurn, part B will contain the remainder The presentation follows the emplrlcal convention used m Chemical Abstracts which is also one of the main sources of the references. The compounds are located by means of their Chemical Abstracts number The number and the reference 1s then hsted at the end of the book The range of compounds covered makes It useful to a range of dlsclplmes including chemical, food and blochemlcal engmeermg Nowhere do the authors say if the contents have been crltlcally assembled, that is, if some cntena were apphed to decide their accuracy before mcluslon One minor carp IS the computer type face used, It is not dlstmct I feel there are better type faces that could have been used. At the pnce quoted it 1s the sort of reference book that only libraries will be able to afford Nevertheless it 1s an admirable book for then reference shelves P RICE

Optlmlsatlon

and Industnal

Expenmentatlon

by W E Blles and J J Swam pubhshed by John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1980, xu + 368 pp , price 820 60

The idea of using statlstlcal techniques to fit empirical models to complex systems with a view to optlmlsmg them seems to me to be a dangerous one Recommendations for the improved operation of mdustnal processes which are not founded m a better understandmg of the prmclples on which the processes are based appear to me to be of limited value There are unportant differences between domg something better, and bemg able to explain why it 1s better It is m deeper understanding of the hmltatlons of current technology that the posslblhty of significant improvements in processes lies Having sad that, perhaps there is still room for techniques which allow for the operation of exlstmg equipment to be optlmlsed fmly quickly and efficiently, without the need to develop a complex physical model of the process. This book grves a readable account of such techniques They are based on statlstlcal ideas, to do with the design of expenments, and on optlmlsatlon theory The necessary prerequlsltes from these areas are discussed m the first four chapters of the book Following a bnef mtroductory chapter, chapters two and three descnbe the statlstlcal concepts lmportant to “a sound, cost-effective approach to designing, conducting and analyzing expenments” Chapter two begins with probability theory, and proceeds via a dlscusslon of dlstnbutlons to hypothesis testing, regression and correlation Chapter three describes the prmclples of experimental design for deriving lmear and quadratic models of systems Although these chapters are dense and topics are dealt with rapidly, the approach of the authors IS careful, and helpful examples are provided I found chapter four, which review optlmlsatlon methods, less satisfactory Numerical optumsatlon techniques have improved ngnlflcantly m the past ten years, these Improvements have been largely ignored by the authors The result is that then review 1s out of date and mlsleadmg For example, the statement “Penalty function techniques are perhaps the most powerful of the nonlinear programming

235

techniques” would no longer receive wide acceptance (if it ever did! ) The remaining three chapters of the book deal with the umficatlon of experunental design and optlmlsatlon techniques to solve mdustrlal optlmlsatlon Froblems Several combmatlons of expenmental designs and optlmlsatlon methods are proposed and Illustrated using theoretical and also fairly realistic practical examples These examples will be particularly useful to anyone considering the apphcatlon of the techniques In summary, the book gives a reasonable treatment of techruques of experlmentatlon deslgned to optunlse complex processes I myself wonder how useful such techniques are m practice J D PERKINS

Developments

m tieat Exchanger

Technology

by D Chlsholm (Edltor) pubhshed by Applied Sciences Pubhshers, prwe 826

I

pp 300,

This 1s an mterestmg book for those concerned with the many facets of the design of heat exchangers

The mam emphasis of the book 1s concerned with two aspects of heat exchanger technology a) shell and tube heat exchanger usage and b) the apphcatlon of enhanced heat transfer m heat exchanger technology Chapter 1 gwes a general overview of heat exchanger technology mcludmg reference to economics of their use. Chapters 2, 3 & 4 give detailed quantltatlve analysis of the design of shell & tube heat exchangers for smgle phase, reboller and condenser apphcatlons. These chapters I consider to be very good m their quality of content and presentation. Chapters 5,6 & 7 are concerned, quahtatlvely, with the use of enhanced heat transfer m compact heat exchangers, an coolers and special surface geometries Chapters 8 & 9 are concerned with heat pumps and with waste heat recovery Overall I feel there 1s an unbalance between the excellent quantltatlve approach of chapters 2, 3 & 4 and the quahtatlve approach of the remaining chapters although there IS a wealth of information m these chapters. It 1s a book I can well recommend as supplementary material to courses on heat transfer P

RICE