Exergy transfer analysis of convection heat transfer

In this paper, based on the fundamentals of thermodynamics and heat transfer, an analysis is made of the exergy transfer of convection heat transfer. Some exergy transfer differential equations are derived under constant thermophysical property and uncompressible laminar flow in the convection heat transfer process. Taking one‐ and two‐dimensional convection heat transfer as examples, respectively, the exergy functions are solved and calculated. Their results agree well with those results from thermodynamic analysis. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 36(2): 66–73, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience. wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20146     

恒热流工况下强化传热管传(火用)性能的评价

通过对管内对流换热过程的灯用传递分析,提出用强化前后的传灯用Nu或传灯用量差ΔNue或ΔE作为强化传热性能评价指标。以工程上常用的螺旋槽管为例,讨论了Re、量纲1热通量、不同结构参数等对强化管传灯用性能的影响。分析结果表明,对于所选螺纹管结构参数,ΔNue随Re增加而增大;随量纲1热通量、量纲1长度的增加而递减。算式可有效评价强化管传灯用效果,以便选取最佳结构参数。     

Performance optimization of a solar driven heat engine with finite-rate heat transfer

An optimal performance analysis for an equivalent Carnot-like cycle heat engine of a parabolic-trough direct-steam-generation solar driven Rankine cycle power plant at maximum power and maximum power density conditions is performed. Simultaneous radiation-convection and only radiation heat transfer mechanisms from solar concentrating collector, which is the high temperature thermal reservoir, are considered separately. Heat rejection to the low temperature thermal reservoir is assumed to be convection dominated. Irreversibilities are taken into account through the finite-rate heat transfer between the fixed temperature thermal reservoirs and the internally reversible heat engine. Comparisons proved that the performance of a solar driven Carnot-like heat engine at maximum power density conditions, which receives thermal energy by either radiation-convection or only radiation heat transfer mechanism and rejects its unavailable portion to surroundings by convective heat transfer through heat exchangers, has the characteristics of (1) a solar driven Carnot heat engine at maximum power conditions, having radiation heat transfer at high and convective heat transfer at low temperature heat exchangers respectively, as the allocation parameter takes small values, and of (2) a Carnot heat engine at maximum power density conditions, having convective heat transfer at both heat exchangers, as the allocation parameter takes large values. Comprehensive discussions on the effect of heat transfer mechanisms are provided.     

Performance of an air-cooled looped thermoacoustic engine capable of recovering low-grade thermal energy

An air-cooled looped thermoacoustic engine is designed and constructed, where an air-cooled cold heat exchanger (consisting of copper heat transfer block, aluminum flange, and aluminum fin plate) is adopted to extract heat and the resonant tube is spiraled and shaped to fit to the available space. Experiments have been conducted to observe how onset temperature difference and resonant frequency are affected by mean pressure, working fluid, and diameter of compliance tube. Besides, the influences of temperature difference, mean pressure, working fluid and diameter of compliance tube on pressure amplitude, output acoustic power, and thermal efficiency of the system have been investigated. The air-cooled looped thermoacoustic engine can start to oscillate at a lowest temperature difference of 46°C, with the working fluid of carbon dioxide at 2.34 MPa. A highest output acoustic power obtained is 6.65 W at a temperature difference of 199°C, with the working gas of helium at 2.58 MPa, and the thermal efficiency is 2.21%. This work verifies the feasibility of utilizing low-grade thermal energy to drive an air-cooled looped thermoacoustic engine and extends its application in the water deficient areas.     

Exergy analysis of a 1.2 MW waste heat power generation project

According to systematic features, analysis method based on exergy balance is established. Basic indicators in the system, the subsystem, and facilities are put forward in this paper. By using this method to analyze the generation system of megawatt‐scale in one chemical enterprise, it is found that the objective exergy efficiency of the system is 35.67%, and exergy loss of organic Rankine cycle (ORC) is the highest. The thermal efficiency of the total system is 9.61%. For the condenser, the thermal efficiency is 91.18%, and the exergy efficiency is only 23.44%. The objective exergy efficiency of the evaporator is 74.04%. The influence coefficient of exergy loss of condenser is higher than that of pump and expander, but input exergy of the condenser is lower than that of the expander. It is revealed that ORC subsystem is the part which needs to be focused on, and the condenser is the most important component of ORC subsystem which should be optimized firstly.     

Exergy transfer characteristics of forced convective heat transfer through a duct with constant wall heat flux

The examination of exergy transfer characteristics caused by forced convective heat transfer through a duct with constant wall heat flux for thermally and hydrodynamic fully developed laminar and turbulent flows has been presented. The exergy transfer Nusselt number is put forward and the dependence relationships of the exergy transfer Nusselt number on the heat transfer Nusselt number, Reynolds number and Prandtl number are obtained. Expressions involving relevant variables for the local and mean convective exergy transfer coefficient, non-dimensional exergy flux and exergy transfer rate, etc. have been derived. By reference to a smooth duct, the numerical results of exergy transfer characteristics for fluids with different Prandtl number are obtained and the effect of the Reynolds number and non-dimensional cross-sectional position on exergy transfer characteristics is analyzed. In addition, the results corresponding to the exergy transfer and energy transfer are compared.     

Thermodynamic optimization of Stirling heat engine with methane gas using finite speed thermodynamic model

With the daily rise in environmental issues due to the use of conventional fuels, researchers are motivated to use renewable energy sources. One of such waste heat and low-temperature differential driven energy sources is the Stirling engine. The performance of the Stirling engine can be improved by finding out the optimum operating and geometrical parameters with suitable working gas and thermal model. Based on this motivation, the current work focuses on the multiobjective optimization of the Stirling engine using the finite speed thermodynamic model and methane gas as the working fluid. Considering output power and pressure drop as two objective functions, the system is optimized using 11 geometrical and thermal design parameters. The optimization results are obtained in the form of the Pareto frontier. A sensitivity assessment is carried out to observe the decision variables, which are having a more sensitive effect on the optimization objectives. Optimization results reveal that 99.83% change in power output and 78% change in total pressure drop can take place in the two-dimensional optimization space. The optimal solution closest to the ideal solution has output power and pressure drop values as 12.31 kW and 22.76 kPa, respectively.     

卡诺热泵的_输出率优化

导出受传热不可逆性影响的内可逆卡诺热泵的输出率与供热系数间的优化关系,并应用它讨论了热泵的优化性能。获得一些对实际热泵有指导意义的新结论。     

复杂热源下不可逆诺维科夫热机最大功率输出

考虑实际热机工作下的旁通热漏和内部耗散等不可逆因素,建立了包括连续均匀分布、三角形分布、二次分布和帕累托分布等四种不同的统计概率分布高温热源温度下的广义不可逆诺维科夫热机模型,导出了热机最大输出功率及相应的热效率和熵产率随高温热源温度、内部不可逆性等因素变化的关系式。结果表明：热漏和内部耗散分别对热机性能有着不同的影响,热漏使统计热源温度分布下最大功率输出对应的热效率减小,同时也增大了熵产率,但对热机的最大功率输出无影响;内部耗散不可逆性使热机的最大输出功率及相应热效率均明显减小,但使熵产率先增大后减小;熵产率随高温热源温度的标准差增大而减小。研究结果对太阳能发电厂性能提升具有一定理论指导意义。     

A thermoacoustic engine capable of utilizing multi-temperature heat sources

Low-grade energy is widespread. However, it cannot be utilized with high thermal efficiency directly. Following the principle of thermal energy cascade utilization, a thermoacoustic engine (TE) with a new regenerator that can be driven by multiple heat sources at different temperature levels is proposed. Taking a regenerator that utilizes heat sources at two temperatures as an example, theoretical research has been conducted on a traveling-wave TE with the new regenerator to predict its performance. Experimental verification is also done to demonstrate the benefits of the new regenerator. Results indicate that a TE with the new regenerator utilizing additional heat at a lower temperature experiences an increase in pressure ratio, acoustic power, efficiency, and exergy efficiency with proper heat input at an appropriate temperature at the mid-heater. A regenerator that uses multi-temperature heat sources can provide a means of recovering lower grade heat.     

Efficiency bound of a solar-driven stirling heat engine system

A solar-driven Stirling engine is modelled as a combined system which consists of a solar collector and a Stirling engine. The performance of the system is investigated, based on the linearized heat loss model of the solar collector and the irreverisible cycle model of the Stirling engine affected by finite-rate heat transfer and regenerative losses. The maximum efficiency of the system and the optimal operating temperature of the solar collector are determined. Moreover, it is pointed out that the investigation method in the present paper is valid for other heat loss models of the solar collector as well, and the results obtained are also valid for a solar-driven Ericsson engine system using an ideal gas as its engine work substance. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exergy transfer characteristics of forced convective heat transfer through a duct with constant wall temperature

The exergy transfer characteristics of fluid flow and heat transfer inside a circular duct under fully developed laminar and turbulent forced convection are presented. Temperature is kept constant at the duct wall. The exergy transfer Nusselt number is put forward and the analytical expressions for exergy transfer Nusselt number are obtained as functions of heat transfer Nusselt number, Reynolds number, Prandtl number, etc. The variations of the local and mean convective exergy transfer coefficient, non-dimensional exergy flux, exergy transfer rate, etc. with operating parameters are presented graphically. By reference to a smooth duct and taking air as working fluid, a numerical analysis of the influence of the Reynolds number and non-dimensional cross-sectional position on exergy transfer characteristics has been conducted. The results show that the process parameters and configuration in the fluid flow and heat transfer inside a duct should be properly selected so that the forced convection process could have the best exergy utilization. In addition, the results corresponding to the exergy transfer and energy transfer are compared.     

电站锅炉的效率分析

通过对电站锅炉进行(火用)分析,得出了锅炉的(火用)效率及其各部位、各过程的(火用)损失大小,并把所得到的结果与锅炉热量平衡分析得到的结果进行了对比,发现锅炉的(火用)损失主要包括燃烧过程的(火用)损失和传热过程的(火用)损失,这就为进一步提高锅炉的效率指明了方向,即主要从燃烧、传热过程入手,通过富氧燃烧、提高蒸汽初参数等方法来减小锅炉的煤耗.     

Comparison of performance of heat regenerators: Relation between heat transfer efficiency and pressure drop

Heat regenerators transfer heat from one gas to another, with an intermediate storage in solids. The heat transfer surface for gas flow application should provide at the same time high surface area and low friction factor. Three geometries of heat transfer surface, monolith, stack of woven screens and bed of spheres, have been compared. Their performance was evaluated from the pressure drop of the heat regenerator working at a given heat transfer efficiency. The comparison was performed using numerical simulation and published measurements of heat transfer and flow friction characteristics. By adjusting the length and the period of the exchanger, it is possible to obtain the same heat transfer efficiency with the three geometries. Beds of spheres give very short and compact heat regenerators, working at high pressure drop. At the opposite, monoliths form long regenerators working at low pressure drop. Stacks of woven screens cover a wide range of performance: low porosity woven screens give high heat transfer efficiency and high pressure drop, while high porosity woven screens offer performance similar to that of the monoliths. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An analytical formula for the estimation of a rankine-cycle heat engine efficiency at maximum power

The authors develop an analytical formula for estimating the Rankine power cycle efficiency at maximum power, which can be extracted from the given mass flow rates of heating and cooling fluids. This formula does not need any detailed thermodynamic data. The accuracy of the procedure is shown by comparisons between analytical values and those calculated using detailed thermodynamic data. The results indicate that the thermal efficiency at maximum power depends primarily on the initial temperatures of the heating and cooling fluids and pinch-temperature differences between the working fluid and the heating and cooling fluids. The efficiency at maximum power provides a measure of the power available in a Rankine heat engine.     

斯特林发动机管式加热器内振荡流动的换热特性实验研究

模拟管式加热器在斯特林发动机中的工作状态,研究加热器管内工作气体振荡流动的换热特性,得到气体压力、振荡频率等对换热的影响规律,进一步得到工作气体与管壁间的平均换热系数,并将结果转化为无量纲参数,比较稳定流动换热关联式计算结果与实验结果的偏差。实验结果可对斯特林发动机管式加热器设计、优化和换热性能预测提供参考。     

Efficient power analysis for an irreversible Carnot heat engine

In this paper, the finite‐time thermodynamic optimization is carried out based on the efficient power criterion for an irreversible Carnot heat engine. The obtained results are compared with those obtained by using the maximum power (MP) and maximum power density (MPD) criteria. The optimal design parameters have been derived analytically, and the effect of the irreversibilities on the general and optimal performances is investigated. Maximizing the efficient power gives a compromise between power and efficiency. The results showed that the design parameter at the maximum efficient power (MEP) condition leads to more efficient engines than at the MP conditions and that the MEP criterion may have a significant power advantage with respect to the MPD criterion. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Numerical and experimental study of a looped travelling‐wave thermoacoustic electric generator for low‐grade heat recovery

Thermoacoustic technology has drawn increasing attention due to its advantages such as reliability and environmental benignity. Aiming at low‐grade heat recovery, we developed a travelling‐wave thermoacoustic electric generator consisting of a looped travelling‐wave thermoacoustic engine and a linear alternator. In order to explore the operating characteristics of the electric generator, we numerically analyzed the acoustic field characteristics with a modified model. The analysis shows that high acoustic impedance appears in all three stages, and the travelling‐wave component dominates the acoustic field of the loop, which is significant for both thermoacoustic conversion and acoustic power propagation. Furthermore, we also investigated the effects of external electric compliance, resistance, and hot end temperature on the output electric power, thermal‐electric efficiency, and other related parameters. In the experiments, a thermal‐electric efficiency of 3.7% with an output electric power of 24 W has been achieved, when the hot end temperature is 120°C. The relative Carnot efficiency can exceed 14% when the hot end temperature is between 120°C and 190°C. The promising results demonstrate the significant potential of thermoacoustic electric generation in low‐grade heat recovery.     

不可逆中冷焦耳_布雷顿功热并供系统火用分析

运用热力学火用分析的方法,分别考虑了高低温侧换热器、热回收装置侧换热器和中冷器的热阻损失,以及压缩机和涡轮机中的内不可逆损失,以无因次总输出火用和火用效率为目标函数,借助数值分析的方法,研究了恒温热源条件下不可逆中冷焦耳—布雷顿功热并供系统的火用性能,分析了主要特征参数对无因次总输出火用及火用效率的影响。分析结果表明,当中间压比不变而总压比变化时,存在一组最佳运行参数,使无因次总输出火用达到最大,还存在最大的总输出火用和火用效率以及相对应的一组最佳运行参数。提高中冷器换热有效度可以增加无因次总输出火用和火用效率。     

Performance optimization of solar-powered heat engine using a multiobjective accelerated algorithm

In this study, a multiobjective optimization approach was used to conduct a thermodynamic investigation of a solar Brayton and endoreversible heat engine. The thermo-economic performance capabilities of such machines with hybrid input power, solar-fuel, are examined numerically. Throughout this study, three performance indicators of the cycle, including the power output, the thermo-economic performance function, and the thermal efficiency are optimized concurrently employing a multiobjective steepest descent method, named the Accelerated Diagonal Steepest Descent algorithm. Furthermore, to properly analyze the error, three strategies are employed in the decision-making step to identify the optimal compromise solution, and the deviation indices under these strategies are analyzed. The numerical experiments reveal that the present algorithm outperforms the two popular multiobjective algorithms: the multiobjective particle swarm optimization method and the elitist nondominated sorting genetic algorithm. The relevance of the presented algorithm with respect to the previous ones is examined by means of a deviation index. Finally, these experiments show the optimal design parameters which lead to the best performance of the heat engine.