Heat transfer entropy resistance for the analyses of two-stream heat exchangers and two-stream heat exchanger networks

The entropy generation minimization method is often used to analyze heat transfer processes from the thermodynamic viewpoint. In this paper, we analyze common heat transfer processes with the concept of entropy generation, and propose the concept of heat transfer entropy resistance. It is found that smaller heat transfer entropy resistance leads to smaller equivalent thermodynamic force difference with prescribed heat transfer rate and larger heat transfer rate with prescribed equivalent thermodynamic force difference. With the concept of heat transfer entropy resistance, the performance of two-stream heat exchangers (THEs) and two-stream heat exchanger networks (THENs) is analyzed. For the cases discussed in this paper, it is found that smaller heat transfer entropy resistance always leads to better heat transfer performance for THEs and THENs, while smaller values of the entropy generation, entropy generation numbers and revised entropy generation number do not always.