Key
2100
Conference Year
2012
Keywords
optimization, design, condenser, evaporator, minimum entropy generation
Abstract
This paper assesses the approach introduced in a prior publication for the optimum design of condensers and evaporators aimed at balancing the heat transfer and pressure drop tradeoffs. Case studies carried out with different heat exchanger configurations for light commercial and household refrigeration applications are reported. The analysis indicated that a heat exchanger design with a high aspect ratio is preferable to a low aspect ratio one as the former produces a dramatically lower amount of entropy. In addition, since the refrigeration system COP obeys the Te/(Tc–Te) scale, it was found that the heat exchanger design that presents the best local (component-level) performance in terms of minimum entropy generation also leads to the best global (system-level) performance.