Field synergy analysis and optimization of the convective mass transfer in photocatalytic oxidation reactors

A convective mass transfer field synergy equation with a specific boundary condition for photocatalytic oxidation reactors developed based on the extremum principle of mass transfer potential capacity dissipation can be used to increase the field synergy between the velocity and contaminant concentration gradient fields over the entire fluid flow domain to enhance the convective mass transfer and increase the contaminant removal effectiveness of photocatalytic oxidation reactors. The solution of the field synergy equation gives the optimal flow field, having the best field synergy for a given viscous dissipation, which maximize the contaminant removal effectiveness. As an illustrative example, the field synergy analysis for laminar mass transfer in plate type reactors is presented. The analysis shows that generating multiple longitudinal vortex flow in the plate type reactor effectively enhances the laminar mass transfer. With the guide of the optimal velocity pattern, the discrete double-inclined ribs can be introduced in actual applications to generate the desired multi-longitudinal vortex flow, so as to enhance the laminar mass transfer, and consequently, improve the contaminant removal performance. The experimental result shows that the contaminant removal effectiveness for the discrete double-inclined ribs plate reactor is increased by 22% compared to the smooth plate reactor.     

Two energy conservation principles in convective heat transfer optimization

Improving heat transfer performance is very beneficial to energy conservation because heat transfer processes widely existed in energy utilization systems. In this contribution, in order to effectively optimize convective heat transfer, such two principles as the field synergy principle and the entransy dissipation extremum principle are investigated to reveal the physical nature of the entransy dissipation and its intrinsic relationship with the field synergy degree. We first established the variational relations of the entransy dissipation and the field synergy degree with the heat transfer performance, and then derived the optimization equation of the field synergy principle and made comparison with that of the entransy dissipation extremum principle. Finally the theoretical analysis is then validated by the optimization results in both a fin-and-flat tube heat exchanger and a foursquare cavity. The results show that, for prescribed temperature boundary conditions, the above two optimization principles both aim at maximizing the total heat flow rate and their optimization equations can effectively obtain the best flow pattern. However, for given heat flux boundary conditions, only the optimization equation based on the entransy dissipation extremum principle intends to minimize the heat transfer temperature difference and could get the optimal velocity and temperature fields.     

Field synergy optimization and enhanced heat transfer by multi-longitudinal vortexes flow in tube

The field synergy equation for steady laminar convection heat transfer was derived by conditional variation calculus based on the least dissipation of heat transport potential capacity. The optimum velocity field with the best heat transfer performance and least flow resistance increase can be obtained by solving the synergy equation. The numerical simulation of laminar convection heat transfer in a straight circular tube shows that the multi-longitudinal vortex flow in the tube is the flow pattern that enhances the heat transfer enormously. Based on this result, a novel enhanced heat transfer tube, the discrete double-inclined ribs tube (DDIR-tube), is developed. The flow field of the DDIR-tube is similar to the optimal velocity field. The experimental results show that the DDIR-tube has better comprehensive heat transfer performance than the current heat transfer enhancement tubes. The present work indicates that new heat transfer enhancement techniques could be developed according to the optimum velocity field.     

Field synergy equation for turbulent heat transfer and its application

A field synergy equation with a set of specified constraints for turbulent heat transfer developed based on the extremum entransy dissipation principle can be used to increase the field synergy between the time-averaged velocity and time-averaged temperature gradient fields over the entire fluid flow domain to optimize the heat transfer in turbulent flow. The solution of the field synergy equation gives the optimal flow field having the best field synergy for a given decrement of the mean kinetic energy, which maximizes the heat transfer. As an example, the field synergy analysis for turbulent heat transfer between parallel plates is presented. The analysis shows that a velocity field with small eddies near the boundary effectively enhances the heat transfer in turbulent flow especially when the eddy height which are perpendicular to the primary flow direction, are about half of the turbulent flow transition layer thickness. With the guide of this optimal velocity field, appropriate internal fins can be attached to the parallel plates to produce a velocity field close to the optimal one, so as to increase the field synergy and optimize the turbulent heat transfer.     

Numerical investigations of curved square channel from the viewpoint of field synergy principle

A curved square channel in laminar flow is numerically investigated based on the classical Navier–Stokes equations from the viewpoint of the field synergy principle. The field synergy principle may accurately describe the curved channel has higher convective heat transfer rate in the case that the heat transfer surface is specified on the outer wall, rather than on the inner wall. The field synergy principle could also be responsible for that the curved channel can enhance the convective heat transfer significantly at the cost of the slight increase of the flow resistance. The field synergy number represents the degree of the synergy between the temperature gradient and the velocity vector, the higher field synergy number leads to the higher convective heat transfer rate under the same Reynolds number and Prandtl number. The field synergy number plays the same positive role in the convective heat transfer whether the fluid is heated or cooled.     

Thermo-Hydraulic Performance Evaluation,Field Synergy,and Entransy Dissipation Analysis for Hexagon-Like and Circular-Like Pin Finned Tube Bundles

In this paper, a comprehensive thermo-hydraulic performance evaluation for air flow across the hexagon-like and circular-like staggered pin finned tube bundle heat transfer surfaces has been numerically carried out by adopting the performance evaluation plot of enhanced heat transfer techniques oriented for energy-saving. In addition, the simulation results have also been analyzed from the viewpoints of field synergy principle and entransy dissipation extreme principle. The results indicate that the heat transfers are all enhanced based on identical pressure drop for the hexagon-like and circular-like pin finned tube bundles within the inlet velocity range from 1 m/s to 10 m/s studied. Moreover, the circular-like pin finned tube bundle offers the lowest friction factor increase ratio for the same Nusselt number increase ratio. Furthermore, the synergy between velocity and fluid temperature gradient has been proved again, having inherent consistency with the dissipation of entransy.     

Field synergy principle analysis on fully developed forced convection in porous medium with uniform heat generation

In the presence of uniform heat source, the energy equation for forced convective heat transfer in porous medium between two parallel plates is solved for fully developed flow. Field synergy analysis is performed with emphasis on the intersection angle between the velocity vector and temperature gradient vector with the inclusion of heat generation. Maximum local intersection angle corresponds to location with the highest resistance to heat convection. Relationship between Nusselt number and field synergy for forced convection in the presence of heat generation is studied. It is necessary to define a modified intersection angle in order to compare the wall heat transfer coefficient for convective heat transfer processes with uniform heat source.     

Nonlinear coupling between thermal mass and natural ventilation in buildings

An ideal naturally ventilated building model that allows a theoretical study of the effect of thermal mass associating with the non-linear coupling between the airflow rate and the indoor air temperature is proposed. When the ventilation rate is constant, both the phase shift and fluctuation of the indoor temperature are determined by the time constant of the system and the dimensionless convective heat transfer number. When the ventilation rate is a function of indoor and outdoor air temperature difference, the thermal mass number and the convective heat transfer air change parameter are suggested. The new thermal mass number measures the capacity of heat storage, rather than the amount of thermal mass. The analyses and numerical results show that the non-linearity of the system does neither change the periodic behaviour of the system, nor the behaviour of phase shift of the indoor air temperature when a periodic outdoor air temperature profile is considered. The maximum indoor air temperature phase shift induced by the direct outdoor air supply without control is 6 h.     

Physical quantity synergy in laminar flow field and its application in heat transfer enhancement

On the basis of field synergy principle for heat transfer enhancement, physical quantity synergy in laminar flow field of convective heat transfer is analyzed according to physical nature of convective heat transfer between fluid and solid wall. Synergy regulation among physical quantities is revealed by mathematical expressions reflecting mechanism of heat transfer enhancement. Characteristic of heat transfer enhancement, which is directly associated with synergy angles α, β and γ, is also analyzed. Numerical simulation is made to verify the principle of physical quantity synergy developed in the paper.     

The forced air cooling heat dissipation performance of different battery pack bottom duct

Due to the requirement of the battery for the thermal management system, based on the coupling relationship between the velocity field and the thermal flow field of the field synergy principle, the flow paths of the forced air cooling system for different battery packs were analyzed. First, the thermodynamic parameters of the battery were collected through experiments and verified by simulation. Secondly, based on the collected thermodynamic parameters of the battery, the heat generation model of the battery, the heat conduction model of the gas, and the coupled heat dissipation model of the battery and air were established. Determine the boundary conditions, calculation methods and evaluation indicators required for simulation; Finally, based on four different driving conditions, the forced air cooling performance of the double “U” shape duct and double “1” type duct is simulated. Through the analysis of the results, the dual “U” air ducts have a more heat dissipation effect on the battery pack than the double “1” shape duct. The results conform to the definition of the field synergy principle for the coupling relationship between the velocity field and the heat flow field. Then research provide references for the design of battery packs and matching of cooling systems.     

Heat Transfer and Thermal Resistance Characteristics of Fin with Built-In Interrupted Delta Winglet Type

The heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of a new type of fin with built-in interrupted delta winglets is studied in this paper by three-dimensional numerical simulation. In order to ensure reliability of numerical model, plate fin with common-flow-up delta winglets is firstly simulated. The comparison of numerical and experimental results shows a maximum deviation of 11.4% within the entire range of Reynolds number. The computational results show that heat transfer capacity and overall performance increase by 35–60% and 19–64%, respectively. The flow field visualization shows that the interrupted delta winglets can produce longitudinal vortices at the rear of delta winglets and reduce the wake zone behind the tube, so the proposed fin can enhance heat transfer accompanied by low pressure loss. The field synergy theory and entransy dissipation extremum principle are employed on analyzing the mechanism of heat transfer enhancement. The results indicate that enhancement heat transfer mechanism of interrupted delta winglets can be explained as the result of the decrease of synergy angle and reduction of the entransy dissipation.     

Entransy expression of the second law of thermodynamics and its application to optimization in heat transfer process

Based on theories of thermodynamics, the energy equation in terms of entransy in heat transfer process is introduced, which not only describes the change of entransy, but also defines the entransy consumption rate. According to the regularity of entransy change in heat transfer process and the effect of entransy consumption rate on the irreversibility of heat transfer process, it can be found that entransy is a state variable, from which a new expression for the second law of thermodynamics is presented. Then by setting entransy consumption rate and power consumption rate as optimization objective and constraint condition for each other, the Lagrange conditional extremum principle is used to deduce momentum equation, constraint equation and boundary condition for optimizing flow field of convective heat transfer, which are applied to simulate convective heat transfer coupling with energy equation in an enclosed cavity. Through the numerical simulation, the optimized flow field under different constraint conditions is obtained, which shows that the principle of minimum entransy consumption is more suitable than the principle of minimum entropy generation for optimizing convective heat transfer process.     

Field synergy principle for enhancing convective heat transfer--its extension and numerical verifications

The concept of enhancing parabolic convective heat transfer by reducing the intersection angle between velocity and temperature gradient is reviewed and extended to elliptic fluid flow and heat transfer situation. Five examples of elliptic flow are provided to show the validity of the new concept (field synergy principle). Two further examples are supplemented to demonstrate the importance of the concept in the design of the enhanced surfaces.     

Three dimensional numerical modeling of simultaneous heat and moisture transfer in a moist object subjected to convective drying

The drying behavior of a moist object subjected to convective drying is analyzed numerically by solving heat and moisture transfer equations. A 3-D numerical model is developed for the prediction of transient temperature and moisture distribution in a rectangular shaped moist object during the convective drying process. The heat transfer coefficients at the surfaces of the moist object are calculated with an in-house computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code. The mass transfer coefficients are then obtained from the analogy between the thermal and concentration boundary layer. Both these transfer coefficients are used for the convective boundary conditions while solving the simultaneous heat and mass transfer governing equations for the moist object. The finite volume method (FVM) with fully implicit scheme is used for discretization of the transient heat and moisture transfer governing equations. The coupling between the CFD and simultaneous heat and moisture transfer model is assumed to be one way. The effect of velocity and temperature of the drying air on the moist object are analyzed. The optimized drying time is predicted for different air inlet velocity, temperature and moisture content. The drying rate can be increased by increasing the air flow velocity. Approximately, 40% of drying time is saved while increasing the air temperature from 313 to 353 K. The importance of the inclusion of variable surface transfer coefficients with the heat and mass transfer model is justified.     

Optimization principles for convective heat transfer

Optimization for convective heat transfer plays a significant role in energy saving and high-efficiency utilizing. We compared two optimization principles for convective heat transfer, the minimum entropy generation principle and the entransy dissipation extremum principle, and analyzed their physical implications and applicability. We derived the optimization equation for each optimization principle. The theoretical analysis indicates that both principles can be used to optimize convective heat-transfer process, subject to different objectives of optimization. The minimum entropy generation principle, originally derived from the heat engine cycle process, optimizes the convective heat-transfer process with minimum usable energy dissipation focusing on the heat–work conversion. The entransy dissipation extremum principle however, originally for pure heat conduction process, optimizes the heat-transfer process with minimum heat-transfer ability dissipation, and therefore is more suitable for optimization of the processes not involving heat–work conversion. To validate the theoretical results, we simulated the convective heat-transfer process in a two-dimensional foursquare cavity with a uniform heat source and different temperature boundaries. Under the same constraints, the results indicate that the minimum entropy production principle leads to the highest heat–work conversion while the entransy dissipation extremum principle yields the maximum convective heat-transfer efficiency.     

A unified analysis on enhancing single phase convective heat transfer with field synergy principle

Numerical simulations were conducted to reveal the inherent relation between the filed synergy principle and the three existing mechanisms for enhancing single phase convective heat transfer. It is found that the three mechanisms, i.e., the decreasing of thermal boundary layer, the increasing of flow interruption and the increasing of velocity gradient near a solid wall, all lead to the reduction of intersection angle between velocity and temperature gradient. It is also revealed that at low flow speed, the fin attached a tube not only increases heat transfer surface but also greatly improves the synergy between the velocity and the temperature gradient.     

Heat transfer and buoyancy‐driven convective MHD flow of nanofluids impinging over a thin needle moving in a parallel stream influenced by Prandtl number

The current study focuses on investigating the influence of transverse magnetic field, variable viscosity, buoyancy, variable Prandtl number, viscous dissipation, Joulian dissipation, and heat generation on the flow of nanofluids over thin needle moving in parallel stream. The theory of nanofluids that includes the Buongiorno model featured by slip mechanism, such as Brownian motion and thermophoresis, has been implemented. Further, convective boundary condition and zero mass flux condition are considered. The nondimensionally developed boundary layer equations have been solved by Runge–Kutta–Fehlberg method with shooting technique for different values of parameters. The most relevant outcomes of the present study are that the augmented magnetic field strength, viscosity parameter, buoyancy ratio parameter, and the size of the needle undermine the flow velocity, establishing thicker velocity boundary layer while Richardson number and Brownian motion show opposite trend. Another most important outcome is that increase in the size of the needle, viscous dissipation, convective heating, and heat generation upsurges the fluid temperature, leading to improvement in thermal boundary layer. The effects of different natural parameters on wall shear stress and heat and mass transfer rates have been discussed.     

Research on heat dissipation performance and flow characteristics of air‐cooled battery pack

With the depletion of fossil fuels and the aggravation of environmental pollution, the research and development speed of electric vehicles has been accelerating, and the thermal management of battery pack has become increasingly important. This paper selects the electric vehicle battery pack with natural air cooling as the study subject, conducts simulation analysis of the heat dissipation performance of battery packs with and without vents. Then this paper researches on the influence of internal flow field and external flow field. Field synergy principle is used to analyze the effect of velocity field and temperature field amplitude. The results show the following: it is found that the maximum temperature rise and the internal maximum temperature difference of the battery pack with vents are reduced by about 23.1% and 19.9%, raising speed value can improve the heat dissipation performance, and raising temperature value can decrease the heat dissipation performance. Reasonable design of the vents can make the inner and outer flow field work synergistically to achieve the best cooling effect. Then the reference basis for the air cooling heat dissipation performance analysis of electric vehicle, battery pack structure arrangement, and air‐inlet and air‐outlet pattern choosing are offered.     

缩放管管外流动沸腾换热的数值模拟与场协同分析

本文利用FLUENT软件对制冷剂R134a在光管和缩放管水平管外沸腾传热进行了三维数值模拟,得到了其饱和泡状沸腾过程中体积含汽率的分布规律,并比较了它们的换热系数,结果表明:缩放管外侧能够很好地强化沸腾传热.此外,通过改变边界条件分析了质量流量、热流密度的变化对缩放管管外沸腾换热系数的影响.最后应用场协同理论,从局部换热角度分析其强化机理.研究表明:缩放管水平管外沸腾换热得到强化的原因是其凹槽前后的速度场与温度梯度场之间夹角更小,协同程度更好.     

Three-dimensional numerical study of wavy fin-and-tube heat exchangers and field synergy principle analysis

In this paper, 3-D numerical simulations were performed for laminar heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of wavy fin-and-tube heat exchanger by body-fitted coordinates system. The effect of four factors were examined: Reynolds number, fin pitch, wavy angle and tube row number. The Reynolds number based on the tube diameter varied from 500 to 5000, the fin pitch from 0.4 to 5.2 mm, the wavy angle from 0° to 50°, and the tube row range from 1 to 4. The numerical results were compared with experiments and good agreement was obtained. The numerical results show that with the increasing of wavy angles, decreasing of the fin pitch and tube row number, the heat transfer of the finned tube bank are enhanced with some penalty in pressure drop. The effects of the four factors were also analyzed from the view point of field synergy principle which says that the reduction of the intersection angle between velocity and fluid temperature gradient is the basic mechanism for enhance convective heat transfer. It is found that the effects of the four factors on the heat transfer performance of the wavy fin-and-tube exchangers can be well described by the field synergy principle.