Analyses of an air conditioning system with entropy generation minimization and entransy theory

In this paper,based on the generalized heat transfer law,an air conditioning system is analyzed with the entropy generation minimization and the entransy theory.Taking the coefficient of performance（denoted as COP） and heat flow rate Qout which is released into the room as the optimization objectives,we discuss the applicabilities of the entropy generation minimization and entransy theory to the optimizations.Five numerical cases are presented.Combining the numerical results and theoretical analyses,we can conclude that the optimization applicabilities of the two theories are conditional.If Qout is the optimization objective,larger entransy increase rate always leads to larger Qout,while smaller entropy generation rate does not.If we take COP as the optimization objective,neither the entropy generation minimization nor the concept of entransy increase is always applicable.Furthermore,we find that the concept of entransy dissipation is not applicable for the discussed cases.

Optimization of fin geometry in heat convection with entransy theory

The entransy theory developed in recent years is used to optimize the aspect ratio of a plate fin in heat convection.Based on a two-dimensional model,the theoretical analysis shows that the minimum thermal resistance defined with the concept of entransy dissipation corresponds to the maximum heat transfer rate when the temperature of the heating surface is fixed.On the other hand,when the heat flux of the heating surface is fixed,the minimum thermal resistance corresponds to the minimum average temperature of the heating surface.The entropy optimization is also given for the heat transfer processes.It is observed that the minimum entropy generation,the minimum entropy generation number,and the minimum revised entropy generation number do not always correspond to the best heat transfer performance.In addition,the influence factors on the optimized aspect ratio of the plate fin are also discussed.The optimized ratio decreases with the enhancement of heat convection,while it increases with fin thermal conductivity increasing.

Equivalent thermal resistance minimization for a circular disc heat sink with reverting microchannels based on constructal theory and entransy theory

Thermal designs for microchannel heat sinks with laminar flow are conducted numerically by combining constructal theory and entransy theory. Three types of 3-D circular disc heat sink models, i.e. without collection microchannels, with center collection microchannels, and with edge collection microchannels, are established respectively. Compared with the entransy equivalent thermal resistances of circular disc heat sink without collection microchannels and circular disc heat sink with edge collection microchannels, that of circular disc heat sink with center collection microchannels is the minimum, so the overall heat transfer performance of circular disc heat sink with center collection microchannels has obvious advantages. Furthermore, the effects of microchannel branch number on maximum thermal resistance and entransy equivalent thermal resistance of circular disc heat sink with center collection microchannels are investigated under different mass flow rates and heat fluxes. With the mass flow rate increasing, both the maximum thermal resistances and the entransy equivalent thermal resistances of heat sinks with respective fixed microchannel branch number all gradually decrease. With the heat flux increasing, the maximum thermal resistances and the entransy equivalent thermal resistances of heat sinks with respective fixed microchannel branch number remain almost unchanged. With the same mass flow rate and heat flux, the larger the microchannel branch number, the smaller the maximum thermal resistance. While the optimal microchannel branch number corresponding to minimum entransy equivalent thermal resistance is 6.

Role of viscous heating in entransy analyses of convective heat transfer

The entransy theory is widely used and found to be effective in thermal analyses and optimizations.Some researchers considered the entransy variation due to viscous heating as part of entransy dissipation and analyzed convective heat transfer based on the differential relationship between entropy and entransy.However,it has been pointed out that the derivation of the differential relationship between entropy and entransy is incorrect.In this paper,the convective heat transfer processes with viscous heating is reconsidered and analyzed from the viewpoint of the energy conservation and the entransy balance equation.It is shown that the influence of the viscous heating is equivalent to that of an inner heat source.Therefore,the contribution of viscous heating to system entransy should not be treated as part of entransy dissipation,but entransy flow into the system.Two-stream parallel and counter flow heat exchangers with viscous heating and a thermal insulation transportation problem of heavy oil are taken as examples to verify the theoretical analyses intuitively.In the examples,the numerical results show that the entransy dissipation rates could be negative when the influence of the viscous heating on the system entransy is treated as part of the entransy dissipation.This is obviously unreasonable.Meanwhile,when the entransy contribution from the viscous heating to the system entransy is treated as entransy flow into the system,it is shown that the entransy dissipation rate is always positive,and the heat transfer processes can be well explained with the entransy theory.

Constructal design progress for eight types of heat sinks

This review paper summarizes constructal design progress performed by the authors for eight types of heat sinks with ten performance indexes being taken as the optimization objectives,respectively,by combining the methods of theoretical analysis and numerical calculation.The eight types of heat sinks are uniform height rectangular fin heat sink,non-uniform height rectangular fin heat sink,inline cylindrical pin-fin heat sink(ICPHS),plate single-row pin fin heat sink(PSRPHS),plate inline pin fin heat sink(PIPHS),plate staggered pin fin heat sink(PSPHS),single-layered microchannel heat sink(SLMCHS)with rectangular cross sections and double-layered microchannel heat sink(DLMCHS)with rectangular cross sections,respectively.And the ten performance indexes are heat transfer rate maximization,maximum thermal resistance minimization,minimization of equivalent thermal resistance which is defined based on the entransy dissipation rate(equivalent thermal resistance for short),field synergy number maximization,entropy generation rate minimization,operation cost minimization,thermo-economic function value minimization,pressure drop minimization,enhanced heat transfer factor maximization and efficiency evaluation criterion number maximization,respectively.The optimal constructs of the eight types of heat sinks with different constraints and based on the different optimization objectives are compared with each other.The results indicated that the optimal constructs mostly are different based on different optimization objectives under the same boundary condition.The optimization objective should be suitable chosen based on the focus when the constructal design for one heat sink is performed.The results obtained herein have some important theoretical significances and application values,and can provide scientific bases and theoretical guidelines for the thermal design of real heat sinks and their applications.