Entropy generation in a counterflow heat exchanger has been analysed in detail and

expressions have been derived in terms of relevant non dimensional parameters. In the
case of nearly ideal heat exchangers with nearly balanced capacity rate, an expression for
entropy production has been derived which matches closely with exact calculation.

Published in Cryogenics, 1982, 22(2), 63-65

On the generation of entropy in a counterflow

heat exchanger
S. Sarangi and K. Chowdhury

Key words: heat exchanger;entropy; exergy

Second law analysis in process design has received and

considerable attention in recent years) Thermal and chemi-
cal processes have been considered by many authors in 1 +v R +v lnR
terms of one of two entities: exergy (available energy) and (Ns)max - v In - -
1+v v (2)

irreversibility (entropy production). Irreversibility analysis

of heat exchangers, designed to transfer a specified amount For some particular cases simpler forms of (1) and (2) may
of heat between the fluid streams, has been described by be derived for ready reference.
McClintock) Bejan a has recently introduced the concept (1) Balanced flow: v = 1
of designing heat exchangers for specified irreversibility
rather than specified amount of heat transferred. This tech- Ns = l n [ l + e ( R - 1 ) ] + ln[1-e(R-1)/R]
nique has been used by several authors in the field of
:cryogenic engineering. 4-7 B e j a n 3 has considered two (R - 1) 2
= ln[1 + e (1 - e)]
sources of irreversibility: heat transfer across a f'mite tem- R
perature difference and pressure drop due to fluid friction.
and
Recently Chowdhury and Sarangi s'9 used irreversibility
analysis to predict the optimum thermal conductivity of (R + 1 ) 2
the separating wall in a concentric tube counterflow heat (Ns)max = In - - at e = 0.5 (3)
4R
exchanger. They have accounted for the entropy generation
due to axial conduction in the wall, along with that due to
(2) v ~ 0
lateral heat transfer and fluid friction.
Such a case may arise if one of the channels carries a liquid
or a condensing vapour, the other carrying a gas at ordinary
pressures.
Entropy generation in a heat exchanger (R-l)
The number of entropy production units N s may be Ns = ln[1 + e ( R - 1)1 - e
derived a as
1 and (4)
Ns = ln[1 + e ( R - 1)] + v-- ln[1 - v e ( R - 1)/R] (I)
(R - 1 )
(Ns)max = l n R ate = 1
where R is inlet temperature ratio T 2 / T ~ , v is capacity rate R
ratio Cn,an/Cmax, e is heat exchanger efficiency, and Nsis
number of entropy production units, = S / C m i a , where S is (3) e ~ 0
rate of entropy generation. In reference 3, N s is defined as
(R -- 1) 2
S / Cma,, .
Ns - e (5)
The following are the assumptions in the derivation of (1): R
one, the contribution of fluid friction to entropy genera-
tion is negligible;.two, both ends of the heat exchanger are (4) e = 1
adiabatic; and three, there is no heat transfer to the sur-
roundings from the outer wall of the heat exchanger. By Ns = ln R + _1 In 1-v (6)
differentiating (1) it may be seen that Ns is maximum for an v R
efficiency
e = 1/(1 + v ) which equals 0 for v = 1 and,
(R-l)
ln R for v = 0
The authors are from the Advanced Centre for Cryogenic R
Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur 721 302,
India. Paper received 22 September 1981. Computed results for a temperature ratio R = 4 have been

0011-2275/82/002063-03 $03.00 © 1982 Butterworth & Co (Publishers) Ltd

CRYOGENICS. FEBRUARY 1982 63
 plotted in Fig. 1 against efficiency e and capacity rate ratio For nearly balanced capacity rate, the coefficient of
v. The locus of maximum entropy generation point may be (1 - e) in (9b) may be evaluated at v = 1 for first order
expressed by the relation: approximation. Then,
e 1 + e(R - 1) (R - 1) 2
Ns = l n [ l + e ( R - 1 ) ] + 1-e In R (7)
Ns, inefr~iency - R (1 - e) (10)

Nearly ideal heat exchanger with nearly balanced In reference 3 the term (1 - e) has been approximated by
capacity rate its value under balanced flow condition, 1/Ntu. Because of
the strong dependence of efficiency on capacity rate ratio,
For nearly ideal heat exchangers (1 - e ~ 1), (1) may be
this becomes a poor approximation at even minor imbalance,
expanded in a Taylor's series around e = 1 to give resulting in significant change of design parameters.

Ns = ln R + 1 In 1 The expression 1° for (1 - e) may be approximated to first

order by the following expression.

~(R - 1 7 (1 - e) 1-e
+ (8) [-N~.- ~ H - 1 +v
R ( v + R - vR)
where
which may be expressed as
H(x) = 1 for x f> 0 a n d H ( x ) = 0 for x < 0
Ns = Ns, imbalance + Ns, inefficiency (9)
This may be substituted in (10) to yield
where
~ ( R - 1) 2 [ 2 - - v
Ns, inemency /~
Ns imbalance = ln R + _1 In 1- v (9a)
' v R

and

v(R - 1) 2 (1 - e)
/'Ms,inefficiency = (9b) (R-l) 2(l-v) (R-l) 2 (2-v)
R(v +R - vR) -- +
2R R

0.4
081[ ~ Ns ,~
0.7
..... Ns,mQ x v5 E

T
v=O
0.6 'l 0.3 - \ ~ Equation (12)
f~
\ ~ . ~ Reference ( 3 )
I V=0,5 A
C
EO.5 f .... Exact calculotion
E
L3
\
.tO
v=0.8
\
.to
v
\ "X
\ "X
.0.4 • . 0.2 \ N
~'~.~ "\ "\.
g

-~- 0.3
~ "\. \-x.
~x,, ~~...~ ~°090
,-1
X\~, \,
~o.2 ~0.1
£
W
t.J

O.1

0 [ t I I I I 1 I f t [ I
0 0.2 0.4 08 0,8 1.0 20 40 80 160 320 640
Efficiency, E Heat t r a n s f e r units, Ntu p

Fig. 1 Computed results for temperature ratio R = 4 plotted Fig. 2 Comparison of exact calculation results obtained using
against efficiency e and capacity rate ratio, v equation (12) and reference 3

64 CRYOGENICS. FEBRUARY 1982

 2 McClintoek, F.A. The design of heat exchangers for minimum
INn' + 1t]
1 gtu, 2
x H(Ntl-u l+v)
3
irreversibility, ASME Paper No. 5 l-A-108 presented at the
1951 meeting of ASME (1951)
Bejan,A. 'The concept of irreversibility in heat exchanger
design: counterflow heat exchangers for gas-to-gas applica-
(11) tionsJHeat Transfer 99C 3 (1977) 374
Hence
4 Bejan,A., Smith, J.L. Jr Thermodynamic optimisation of
mechanical supports for cryogenic apparatus Cryogenics 14
(1974) 158
Ns = Ns, imbalance + -( R --2l ) 2- v [R-Ntu l-v]2_
5 Bejan,A., Smith, J.L. Jr Heat exchangers for vapour cooled
conducting supports of cryostats Advances in Cryogenic
Engineering 21 Plenum, New York (1976) 247
H(Nt!u l+v) (12) 6 Bejan,A. Discrete cooling of low heat leak supports to 4.2 K
Cryogenics 15 (1975) 290
7 Hilal,M.A., Boom, R.W. Optimisation of mechanical supports
for large superconductive magnets Advances in Cryogenic
Results of (12)have been compared with exact calculation Engineering 22 Plenum, New York (1976) 224
and results of Reference 3 in Fig. 2 for a temperature ratio 8 Chowdhury, K., Sarangi, S. A second law analysis of the con-
of 4. It may be observed that the new expression gives a centric tube balanced counterflow heat exchanger: optimisa-
much closer approximation and also can be easily incor- tion of wall conductivity Proceedings of the 7th National
Symposium on Refrigeration and Air conditioning India (1980)
porated into the new design procedure of Bejan. 9 Chowdhury, K., Sarangi, S. A second law analysis of the con-
centric tube counterflow heat exchanger: optimisation of
References wall conductivity In J Heat and Mass Transfer (1981 )
(Submitted)
1 Gaggioli,R.A., Petit, P.J. Use the second law first Chemtech 10 Kays, W.M., London, A.L. Compact Heat Exchangers
7 (1977) 496 McGraw Hill, New York (1964)

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