MINIMIZATION OF ENTROPY GENERATION IN A SHELL AND TUBE HEAT EXCHANGER

SELECTING OPTIMUM TUBE DIAMETER AND NUMBER OF TUBES

Warren Powell Mechanical Engineering Idaho State University Pocatello, ID USA powewarr@isu.edu

ABSTRACT For the engineer interested in optimizing a shell & tube type heat exchanger: competing irreversibilities of pressure drop and heat transfer are directly related to the rate of entropy generation in terms of tube diameter and the total number of tubes. The equation for optimum tube diameter herein is expressed in terms of material properties and other fixed design parameters such as heat transfer rate and total tube cross sectional area. The method is effective when tube flow is assumed turbulent and high precision is not needed. However, the approach provides an accurate estimate of the required tube diameter and number of tubes needed. NOMENCLATURE Tube cross sectional area Specific heat at constant pressure Diameter Optimum diameter Change in enthalpy Change in entropy Change in length Change in pressure Friction factor Enthalpy Average convective heat transfer coefficient Conductive heat transfer coefficient Length Mass flow rate Total number of tubes Nusselt number 1 P Pr Wetted perimeter Pressure Pressure drop Prandtl number Heat transfer rate per unit length Heat transfer rate Reynolds number Rate of entropy transfer Entropy Stanton number Stream temperature Temperature difference across tube wall Stream velocity Work

Re S St T V W Greek

cp D Dopt dh ds dx dP f h

Density Stream viscosity Specific volume Subscripts

i e tot gen sys

Inlet Exit Total Generation System

k L n Nu

INTRODUCTION One method of optimizing a system is to account for irreversibilities in the form of entropy transfer and entropy generation (Sgen). In this shell and tube heat exchanger example, an equation is developed which relates the Sgen contributions of pressure drop and heat transfer to the total amount of entropy generation. Furthermore, a method is developed which represents each irreversibility as a function of design parameters which can be optimized. As with any optimization problem involving two or more competing irreversibilities, a change in design parameters to reduce the effect of one, can increase the effect of another. At some point, however, the effect of each is at a minimum governed by a given set of design parameters. The heat exchanger considered herein will be optimized by adjusting the number of tubes (n) and the diameter (D) of the tubes. PROBLEM DEFINITION The heat exchanger is a typical shell and tube type. Several system parameters are fixed and defined in Table 1 as follows:
Table 1- Fixed design constraints.
Variable Description Total mass flow rate Total tube cross sectional area Total heat transfer rate per unit length Symbol Fixed Value 5.25 kg/s 2 300 cm 1260 W/m

Table 2-Properties of water flow inside tubes.

Parameter Value

T k

Pr

293 K .598 W/m K 998 kg/m3 1.002x10-3 kg/m s 7.01

The tube walls are considered smooth and flow within the tubes is initially assumed turbulent and later verified. Variables not explicitly defined in the solution approach text are assumed familiar to the reader, and definitions can be found in the nomenclature section. SOLUTION APPROACH To simplify the development of the equation for Sgen, an individual tube is analyzed alone and symbolically. Later, the relationship is applied to the entire system by dividing appropriate equation parameters by n tubes, and system properties are substituted. First Law Analysis In order to see the flow of energy in the system, the first law of thermodynamics is applied to a tube, shown by Equation 1, (1) With no work (W) being done on or by the system and constant mass flow rate ( ) into and out of the tube, the equation becomes, (2) Assuming that the length (L) and the change in enthalpy (dh) is over a finite distance (dx), Equation 2 can be written in the useful form, (3)

As previously stated, the number of tubes and the tube diameter are to be optimized. It is expected that irreversibilities are due to pressure drop caused by friction, and heat loss. Several key assumptions will govern the solution approach. Flow into and across the tubes is assumed to be steady and at constant temperature. The fluid inside the tubes is water and has the following properties [1], as shown in Table 2: 2

Second Law Analysis While the first law is indeed useful, alone it does not show the flow of entropy needed to optimize the system. The second law of thermodynamics is, therefore, applied in Equation 4, (4)

Equation 7 contains the expression

which is part of

Equation 6. By rearranging Equation 7 as, (8)

the Gibbs relation can now be substituted into Equation 6, yielding a new expression for , (9)

Recalling that the system is assumed steady state and steady flow, the term on the right of the equal sign in Equation 4 becomes zero. The change in entropy can be considered per unit length and related, in Equation 5, to the two modes of entropy transport per unit length due to mass and heat transfer. (5)

It is desirable to get in terms of pressure drop because it is dependent on tube diameter; which is an optimized design parameter. Equation 9 is further simplified by substituting and assuming , (10)

Substituting Equation 5 into Equation 4 produces, (6) where wall. is the temperature difference across the tube

Relating Pressure Drop to Design Parameters In its most basic form, Equation 6 shows the competing effects of irreversibilities due to mass and heat transfer. Equation 6 does not, however, contain any design parameters and warrants further development. Note that entropy generation must always be positive as indicated by the constraint on the right, . Relating First & Second Laws Key first and second law expressions (Equations 3 & 6) can be related to each other using the Gibbs equation [2], (7) Notice that the Gibbs relation contains an expression for pressure drop over a finite distance, . Similarly, The negative sign arises from the pressure decrease with increasing length. As mentioned, pressured drop is a function of tube diameter. From [1], it can be seen that, (11)

Substituting dx for L and Equation 12 for velocity V, (12)

Equation 11 becomes, (13)

When Equation 13 is substituted into Equation 10, a new expression for arises, (14) Substituting (19) into (16) gives,

(19)

(20) Since friction factor (f) is not a design parameter, Equation 15 is substituted into Equation 14 which relates the pressure drop term in to Reynolds number (Re). (15) According to [3], Equation 15 may be used for smooth pipes when the flow is turbulent. (16)

In order to minimize , both irreversibility terms need to be in terms of Re or diameter (D). Since the pressure drop term is already in terms of Reynolds number, the heat loss term should also be expressed in terms of Reynolds number. To relate St to Re, an expression for Nusselt number (Nu) is used[3], (21)

The second term in (Equation 16) now represents the irreversibility from pressure loss as a function of optimizable design parameters. Relating Heat Transfer to Design Parameters Getting the heat transfer term of in terms of design parameters is not as straightforward. Recall that Stanton number (St), according to [2], can be expressed as, (17)

Recall that is the top fraction from (17). Substituting from Equation 18, from Equation 19, and collecting terms to create St from (17), Nu is, (22)

Equation 22 contains mostly variables which are already in Equation 20. Incorporating (22) into (20) is a simple matter of rearranging and multiplying by 1 in the form of identity fractions. For example, since k appears in (22), but not in (20), multiply by pattern, Equation 20 becomes, . Following this

where the top terms represents the average heat transfer coefficient . Notice the term in both and St. By solving for in Stanton number and replacing wetted perimeter in Equation 17 with (18) and with Equation 12, the Stanton number expression becomes

(23)

Use of the Dittus-Boeler [2] equation to relate Nu to Re is appropriate with the assumptions that: the flow is turbulent, the tubes are smooth, and the fluid in the tube is being heated from without. (24) Substituting (24) into (23) gives,

(25)

substituting material properties from Table 2 into (28), the iteration sequence is as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4. Make a guess for n. Calculate Dopt using Equation 28. Calculate Acs,tot using Equation 29. Compare calculated Acs,tot to the target Acs,tot specified in Table 1. 5. Calculate Re to verify turbulent flow. 6. Adjust n and repeat steps 2-5 until the target Acs,tot is met. Where calculated is, (29) Results of a few iterations are shown in Table 3.
Table 3-Key values of optimization iteration. Row highlighted in grey indicates optimum values achieved.
n Dopt (cm)

The heat transfer term in optimizable design parameters. Minimizing Entropy Generation

is now in terms of

With both irreversibilities in in terms of Re, the minimum entropy generation can be found by taking the derivative of Equation 25 with respect to Re. When is equal to zero, tube diameter and the number of tubes can be selected to achieve the corresponding Reynolds number. However, Equation 25 can be further developed by substituting for Re, (26)

which results in, (27)

Setting the derivative of (27) equal to zero and solving for D results in an equation for optimum tube diameter, (28)

80 90 95 96 97

2.09 2.03 1.99 1.99 1.98

Acs,tot calculated 2 (cm ) 277 291 298 299 300

Target 2 Acs,tot (cm ) 300 300 300 300 300

Re

3972 3651 3515 3487 3461

From Table 3, it is seen that the optimum number of tubes is 97 with a tube diameter of 2 cm. These values seem reasonable for the amount of heat being removed and other fixed design parameters. Note that Reynolds number for all iterations is in the transitional flow regionnot fully developed turbulent pipe flow as assumed. While the flow is not fully developed, it is sufficiently turbulent to justify the use of the relationship for . Further modification of the relationship to account for transitional flow makes the equation unduly large for not much gain in accuracy. The minimization of with respect to diameter can be seen graphically in Figure1, 5

RESULTS & DISCUSSION Equation 28 represents the optimal tube diameter for a single tube. In order to optimize both the tube diameter and the number of tubes, mass flow rate ( ), and the rate of heat transfer per unit length ( ) must be divided by the number of tubes (n). After dividing by n, Equation 28 is in terms of both D and n which requires an iterative optimization approach. After

are defined. One should use caution if high accuracy is needed, since the optimization is based on the assumption of turbulent flow which is not fully achieved in this example. REFERENCES [1] Cengel, Y.A., and Cimbala, J.M, A.S., 2010. Fluid Mechanics, Fundamentals and Applications 2nd Ed. McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. New York, NY. [2] Bejan, A., 2006. Advanced Engineering Thermodynamics 3rd Ed. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Hoboken, NJ. [3] Incropera, F.P., Dewitt, D.P., Bergman, T.L., and Lavine, A.S., 2007. Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transf 6th Ed. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Hoboken, NJ.

Figure 1with respect to diameter. The vertical line denotes Dopt and the horizontal line signifies minimum .

The U shape of the plot indicates that there is a balance between both pressure drop and heat loss irreversibilities. Inspecting the location of Re in Equation 25 verifies this observation. Varying diameter away from Dopt to decrease one irreversibility inevitably increases the other. CONCLUSION Minimizing entropy generation in this shell and tube heat exchanger example is a matter of representing irreversibilities in terms of design parameters. The rate of entropy generation due to pressure drop and heat transfer can be shown as competing factors, dependent on the number of tubes in the exchanger and individual tube diameter. Equation (27) was derived which represents as a function of pressure loss, heat transfer, fixed design constraints, and variable design constraints. Minimization of (27) is a matter of taking its derivative and setting it equal to zero to find an optimum tube diameter. Iteration of the optimum diameter equation (28) is necessary to determine the optimum number of tubes to achieve a target total cross sectional area. Overall, the method is effective for estimating tube diameter and the number of tubes needed when mass flow rate and total cross sectional area of the system 6