The electrical power generation from low temperature heat source attracts more and more attentions but the temperature mismatching between the heat sources and working medium in the organic Rankine cycle(ORC)becomes an issue.The organic flash cycle(OFC)is an effective solution to this issue.In this paper,the OFC is analyzed by the concept of entransy loss and the T-Q(temperature-heat flow rate)diagram for the heat-work conversion.The equations for cycles of the basic OFC and the OFC whose heat source is the exhaust gas of the turbine in a Brayton cycle(the combined cycle)are derived theoretically and the results indicate that larger entransy loss rate leads to larger output power with prescribed inlet parameters of the hot stream in the discussed cases,which is displayed by the T-Qdiagram intuitively.Two numerical examples demonstrate that the optimal mass flow rate of the working medium for the maximum entransy loss rate is the same as that for the maximum output power.The T-Qdiagram analyses is in accordance with the numerical results.The concept of entransy loss can be used as the criteria for the OFC optimization.
In this paper, the physical basis and application conditions of the entransy theory are reviewed and discussed. Entransy can be obtained from the analogy between heat and electrical conductions. It is a state value and the‘‘potential energy'' of heat. From the viewpoint of thermomass, it reflects the thermal energy of the thermomass in an object. Furthermore, it was also related to the microstate number and is a single value function of the microstate number. The concepts of entransy, entransy flux and entransy dissipation can be used to express the least action of heat transfer. The entransy balance equations for heat transfer and thermodynamic processes and their applications to thermal systems are also reviewed. The differences between the entransy theory, constructal theory, entropy generation minimization, exergy analyses method, principle of uniformity of temperature difference field and field synergy(coordination) principle are also discussed. The entransy theory is different from the other discussed theories. The limitations of the entransy theory are also discussed.
Thermal optimization is very important for improving the performances of thermal systems. In engineering, the entropy generation minimization （EGM） has been widely used to optimize and evaluate the performances of thermal systems. However, the consistency between the EGM and the optimization objective should be specified when the EGM is used. In this paper, we discuss the view angle of irreversibility of entropy generation, and show that entropy generation directly reflects the exergy destruction or the ability loss of doing work. As the design objective in a thermal system is not often consistent with the view angle of irreversibility of entropy generation, the EGM may not lead to the optimal value of the design objective. In heat transfer and heat-work conversion, the inconsistence between the design objectives and the EGM is shown with some examples, and the applicability of the EGM is found to be conditional. The “entropy generation paradox” in heat exchanger analyses is also discussed, and it is shown that there is no direct monotonic relation between the minimum entropy generation rate and the best heat transfer performance of heat exchangers.
In this paper, the performance of a concentrating photovoltaic/thermal solar system is numerically analyzed with a mathematical and physical model. The variations of the electrical efficiency and the thermal efficiency with the operation parameters are calculated. It is found that the electrical efficiency increases at first and then decreases with increasing concentration ratio of the sunlight, while the thermal efficiency acts in an opposite manner. When the velocity of the cooling water increases, the electrical efficiency increases. Considering the solar system, the surface of the sun, the atmosphere and the environment, we can get a coupled energy system, which is analyzed with the entropy generation minimization and the entransy theory. This is the first time that the entransy theory is used to analyze photovoltaic/thermal solar system. When the concentration ratio is fixed, it is found that both the minimum entropy generation rate and the maximum entransy loss rate lead to the maximum electrical output power,while both the minimum entropy generation numbers and the maximum entransy loss coefficient lead to the maximum electrical efficiency. When the concentrated sunlight is not fixed, it is shown that neither smaller entropy generation rate nor larger entransy loss rate corresponds to larger electrical output power. Smaller entropy generation numbers do not result in larger electrical efficiency, either. However, larger entransy loss coefficient still corresponds to larger electrical efficiency.
The entransy theory has been applied to the analyses of heat-work conversion systems. The physical meaning and the applications of work entransy are analyzed and discussed in this paper. Work entransy, which is clarified to be a process dependent quantity, is not the entransy of work, but the system entransy change accompanying work transfer. The relationship between the work entransy and the output work is set up. When the application preconditions are satisfied, larger work entransy leads to larger output work. Entransy loss, which was proposed and applied to heat work conversion processes with irreversible heat transfer, is the net entransy flow into the system and the summation of work entransy and entransy dissipation. The application preconditions of entransy loss are also discussed.
Taking the output power, thermal efficiency, and thermo-economic performance as the optimization objectives, we optimize the operation parameters of a thermodynamic system with combined endoreversible Carnot heat engines in this paper. The applicabilities of the entropy generation minimization and entransy theory to the optimizations are discussed. For the discussed cases, only the entransy loss coefficient is always agreeable to the optimization of thermal efficiency. The applicabilities of the other discussed concepts to the optimizations are conditional. Different concepts and principles are needed for different optimization objectives, and the optimization principles have their application preconditions. When the preconditions are not satisfied, the principles may be not applicable.
The endoreversible Carnot cycle is analyzed based on the concepts of entropy generation, entropy generation number, entransy loss, and entransy loss coefficient. The relationships of the cycle output power and heat-work conversion efficiency with these parameters are discussed. For the numerical examples discussed, the preconditions of the application for these concepts are derived. When the inlet temperatures and heat capacity flow rates of hot streams and environment temperature are prescribed, the results show that the concepts of entropy generation and entransy loss are applicable. However, in the presence of various inlet temperatures of streams, larger entransy loss rate still leads to larger output power, while smaller entropy generation rate does not. When the heat capacity flow rates of hot streams are various, neither larger entransy loss rate nor smaller entropy generation rate always leads to larger output power. Larger entransy loss coefficient always leads to larger heat-work conversion efficiency for the cases discussed, while smaller entropy generation number does not always.
Thermal power plant is one of the important thermodynamic devices, which is very common in all kinds of power generation systems. In this paper, we use a new concept, entransy loss, as well as exergy destruction, to analyze the single reheating Rankine cycle unit and the single stage steam extraction regenerative Rankine cycle unit in power plants. This is the first time that the concept of entransy loss is applied to the analysis of the power plant Rankine cycles with reheating and steam extraction regeneration. In order to obtain the maximum output power, the operating conditions under variant vapor mass flow rates are optimized numerically, as well as the combustion temperatures and the off-design flow rates of the flue gas. The relationship between the output power and the exergy destruction rate and that between the output power and the entransy loss rate are discussed. It is found that both the minimum exergy destruction rate and the maximum entransy loss rate lead to the maximum output power when the combustion temperature and heat capacity flow rate of the flue gas are prescribed. Unlike the minimum exergy destruction rate, the maximum entransy loss rate is related to the maximum output power when the highest temperature and heat capacity flow rate of the flue gas are not prescribed.
