Thermodynamic analysis and optimization of air-cooled heat exchangers

In the present study, a thermodynamic second-law analysis was performed to investigate the effects of different geometry and flow parameters on the air-cooled heat exchanger performance. For this purpose, the entropy generation due to heat transfer and pressure loss of internal and external flows of the air-cooled heat exchanger was calculated; and it was observed that the total entropy generation has a minimum at special tube-side Reynolds number. Also, it was seen that the increasing of the tube-side Reynolds number resulted in the rise of the irreversibility of the air-cooled heat exchanger. The results also showed when air-side Reynolds number decreased, the entropy generation rate of the external flow reduced. Finally, based on the computed results, a new correlation was developed to predict the optimum Reynolds number of the tube-side fluid flow.