Abo Bibliothek: Guest

ISSN Online: 2377-424X

ISBN CD: 1-56700-226-9

ISBN Online: 1-56700-225-0

International Heat Transfer Conference 13
August, 13-18, 2006, Sydney, Australia

THERMOECONOMIC DESIGN OPTIMIZATION FOR A COMPACT FINNED-TUBE EVAPORATOR OF AUTOMOTIVE AIR-CONDITIONING SYSTEM

Get access (open in a dialog) DOI: 10.1615/IHTC13.p22.320
13 pages

Abstrakt

This paper presents a methodology of a design optimization technique which can be useful in assessing the best configuration of the finned-tube evaporator, using a thermoeconomic approach. The assessment is carried out on a finned-tube evaporator of a bus air conditioning system for a specified cooling capacity. The methodology is conducted by optimizing the evaporator independently by minimizing the entropy generation in the evaporator alone, a technique known as the thermoeconomic isolation and it is compared with the optimal design obtained from minimizing the entropy generation for the entire cycle or air-conditioning COP. The saturation evaporation temperature and fin pitch (number of fins per mm) are selected as the operational and geometrical design parameters respectively. First, the irreversibility due to heat transfer across the stream-to-stream temperature-difference and due to frictional pressure-drops is calculated as a function of the design parameters. Then, a cost function is introduced, defined as the sum of two contributions, the investment expense of the evaporator and the system compressor, and the operational expense of the conventional system which is mechanically driven by the bus engine. The optimal trade-off between investment and operating cost is therefore investigated. The results show that a significant improvement can be obtained on the evaporator design compared to that of the commercial finned-tube evaporator which is designed based on the conventional values of the design parameters.