International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 60 (2013) 156–162

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International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhmt

Entransy dissipation-based thermal resistance method for heat exchanger

performance design and optimization
Qun Chen ⇑
Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Optimal design of heat exchanger performance is of the key issue in energy conservation. Based on the
Received 28 January 2011 entransy theory, this study deduced the formula of entransy dissipation-based thermal resistance (EDTR)
Received in revised form 15 June 2012 for different types of heat exchangers, analyzed the factors influencing heat exchanger performance and,
Accepted 5 December 2012
more importantly, developed an alternative EDTR method for the design and optimization of heat
Available online 31 January 2013
exchanger performance. The results indicate that the EDTR of parallelflow, counterflow and TEMA E-type
shell-and-tube heat exchangers have a general formula, which directly connects heat exchanger perfor-
Keywords:
mance to heat capacity rates of fluids, thermal conductance and flow arrangement of heat exchanger
Heat exchanger performance
Entransy dissipation-based thermal
without introducing any phenomenological non-dimensional parameter. From this formula, it is clear
resistance that there are three factors influencing heat exchanger performance, including finite thermal conduc-
Design method tance, different heat capacity rates of hot and cold fluids, and non-counterflow arrangement of heat
Irreversibility exchangers. Furthermore, based on the relation among heat transfer rate, arithmetical mean temperature
difference and EDTR, the total heat transfer rate in a heat exchanger can be easily calculated by the ther-
mal conductance of heat exchanger and the heat capacity rates of fluids. Therefore, the EDTR method can
analyze, compare and optimize heat exchanger performance conveniently.
Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction check heat exchanger performance, we have to determine the

Heat exchanger, one of the most common devices in heat trans-
fer, is being widely used in several energy utilization systems, and
even playing a very important role in some particular applications.
For instance, heat exchangers account for about 20% of the total
investment in the petrochemical industry and they are also the
necessary components for both renewable energy utilization and
energy conservation systems. Therefore, designing and improving
the thermal performance, and reducing the volume and weight of
heat exchangers have often been regarded as one of the key issues
in energy conservation.
In engineering, both designing and checking heat exchanger
performance are generally used such approaches as the logarith-
mic mean temperature difference method (LMTD), the heat ex-
changer effectiveness – number of transfer units method (e-
NTU), the P-NTU method, the w-P method and the P1  P2 method
[1]. In these methods, however, some phenomenological non-
dimensional parameters must be introduced. For instance, in the
LMTD method, it is inevitable to introduce a correction factor u
to adjust the effective temperature differences for crossflow and
multipass exchangers [2]. Therefore, if using the LMTD method to
⇑ Tel./fax: +86 10 62781610.
E-mail address: chenqun@tsinghua.edu.cn
proper outlet fluid temperatures and the corresponding value of
LMTD by iteration to make the heat transferred in heat exchangers
to be equal to that carried out by fluids. In the e-NTU method [3],
the fluid with the minimum heat capacity rate has to be first taken
as the benchmark to calculate both e and NTU, so iterations are also
unavoidable for the design of fluid flow rates. Besides, different
types, e.g. parallelflow, counterflow, crossflow and shell-and-tube,
of heat exchangers have their individual diverse and complex rela-
tions between e and NTU, which are more or less inconvenient for
engineering applications. On the other hand, all the above methods
are only suitable for performance design and check, rather than
optimization. In order to optimize heat exchanger performance
with given constraints, Guo et al. [4] developed the uniformity
principle of temperature difference field and believed that a more
uniform temperature difference field between hot and cold fluids
would lead to a better heat exchanger performance, whereas this
principle is still phenomenally, not from the viewpoint of irrevers-
ibility of heat transfer.
Considering the entropy generation, as a common irreversibility
measure of any irreversible process, Bejan [5] deduced the expres-
sion of entropy generation as being due to heat transfer between
finite temperature difference as well as fluid friction in heat
exchangers and furthermore optimized a regenerative heat ex-
changer in a Brayton cycle heat engine based on the criterion of

0017-9310/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2012.12.062
 Q. Chen / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 60 (2013) 156–162
Nomenclature
A area, m2
cp constant pressure specific heat, J kg1 K1
G entransy, J K
h enthalpy, J
k overall heat transfer coefficient for heat exchangers,
W m2 K1
m_ mass flow rate, kg s1
Q heat transfer rate, W
Rh, EDTR entransy dissipation-based thermal resistance, K W1
T temperature, K
minimum entropy generation. Thenceforth, this method attracted
attention to many researchers. They analyzed the influence factors
of geometrical structures [6–8] and operation parameters [9–13]
on the entropy generation for various heat exchangers, and then
optimized them subject to the minimum entropy generation. How-
ever, there are also some scholars who questioned whether the
minimum entropy generation is the general criterion for all heat
transfer processes regardless of the nature of their applications.
For instance, the so-called ‘entropy generation paradox’ [14,15] ex-
ists when the criterion of minimum entropy generation is used for
counterflow heat exchangers. That is, enlarging the heat transfer
surface of a counterflow exchanger from zero simultaneously in-
creases the heat transfer rate and improves the heat exchanger
effectiveness, but does not reduce the entropy generation rate
monotonously – the entropy generation rate increases at first
and then decreases. Besides, after analyzing the relationship be-
tween the heat transfer effectiveness and the entropy generation
in 18 heat exchangers with diverse structures, Shah and Skiepko
[16] demonstrated that even when the system entropy generation
reaches extremum, the heat exchanger effectiveness can be at
either the maximum or the minimum, or anything in between.
Therefore, it is speculated that the criterion of minimum entropy
generation is not always consistent with the optimal heat exchan-
ger performance.
Recently, Guo et al. [17] introduced the physical quantity of
entransy1 to describe the heat transfer ability of an object, and then
use the entransy dissipation to measure the loss of such ability due
to the irreversibility of heat transfer. In addition, Guo et al. [17] pro-
posed an alternative optimization criterion of entransy dissipation
extremum for heat transfer unrelated with heat-to-work conversion,
i.e. when the entransy dissipation reaches extremum, the heat trans-
fer performance is optimal. This criterion has been successfully used
in the optimization of heat conduction [19–21], heat convection [22–
24], thermal radiation [25], and coupled heat and mass transfer [26–
28]. In addition, Liu and Guo [29] and Guo et al. [30] defined the rate
ratio of entire entransy dissipation to squared heat flow as the en-
transy dissipation-based thermal resistance (EDTR) for heat
exchangers, deduced the expression of EDTR by heat exchanger
effectiveness and heat capacity rate ratio, and finally developed
the ‘effectiveness-thermal resistance’ method to evaluate heat ex-
changer performance. Thereafter, Qian and Li [31], Cheng and Liang
[32], and Guo and Xu [33] analyze the relation of the entropy gener-
ation, the entransy dissipation, the entransy dissipation-based ther-
mal resistance and the heat exchanger performance. They found that
1
Entransy, originally termed heat transfer potential capacity [18], corresponds to
the electric energy stored in a capacitor in terms of the analogy between heat and
electrical conduction. It is an extensive property to represent the heat transfer ability
of an object or a system at a specific temperature without volume variation, as the
electrical energy in a capacitor describes its charge transfer ability. The zero value of
the entransy of an object is usually assigned at 0 K.
157
U internal energy, J
Uh entransy dissipation rate, W K
n flow arrangement factor, K W1
e heat exchanger effectiveness
Subscripts
h hot
c cold, counterflow heat exchanger
p parallelflow heat exchanger
s shell-and-tube heat exchanger
the minimum entransy dissipation-based thermal resistance, not the
minimum entropy generation, corresponds to the highest heat ex-
changer effectiveness.
Because the expression of EDTR in Refs. [29,30] is a function of
such intermediate parameters as heat exchanger effectiveness and
heat capacity rate ratio, not the design parameters such as heat
transfer coefficient, surface area, and individual heat capacity rates
of fluids, the ‘effectiveness – thermal resistance’ method is not
straightforward for designing heat exchangers and analyzing the
influence of design parameters on heat exchanger performance,
and thus it is not very convenient for designing and optimizing a
heat exchanger network consisting of many heat exchangers. More
importantly, in practical applications, the engineers do not design a
heat exchanger based on the high heat exchanger effectiveness, the
minimum entropy generation, or the minimum entransy dissipa-
tion-based thermal resistance, but to do its desired performance
or proper sizing to fit in available space.
Therefore, the contribution of this present paper is to deduce a
general formula of EDTR by heat capacity rates of fluids, heat trans-
fer coefficient, surface area, and flow arrangements for parallel-
flow, counterflow and TEMA E-type shell-and-tube heat
exchangers, analyze the influence mechanism of such parameters
on heat exchanger performance and, more importantly, develop
the entransy dissipation-based thermal resistance method for heat
exchanger design. Finally, a practical heat exchanger is designed by
the newly developed entransy dissipation-based thermal resis-
tance method to show its potential in the design and optimization
of heat exchangers.
2. The definition of entransy dissipation-based thermal
resistance
For a steady-state heat transfer, the thermal energy is conserved
during the entire process, and hence it is difficult to define the con-
cept of efficiency to evaluate heat transfer performance due to the
same rate of the thermal energy entering into and out of the sys-
tem. At this time, in order to intuitively evaluate heat transfer per-
formance, scholars and engineers defined the concept of thermal
resistance as the ratio of temperature difference to heat flux based
on the analogy between heat conduction and electric conduction.
The expression of thermal resistance Rh for one-dimensional, stea-
dy-state heat conduction through a slab with a constant heat con-
ductivity and no inner heat source is
DT T 1  T 2
Rh ¼ ¼ ; ð1Þ
q q
where T1 and T2 are the temperatures of hot and cold surfaces in
one-dimensional conduction, respectively, q is the heat flux.
158 Q. Chen / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 60 (2013) 156–162

However, for heat transfer in a heat exchanger, the tempera-

tures of both hot and cold fluids vary along the heat transfer
surface, and thus it is not a one-dimensional heat conduction pro-
cess. In this case, the characteristic temperature difference is not
unique, but sometimes arbitrary, and thereafter it is uncertain to
calculate the thermal resistance by Eq. (1). Therefore, engineers
introduced and used the concept of heat exchanger effectiveness
e, defined as the ratio of actual heat transfer rate to possible max-
imum heat transfer rate, to evaluate heat exchanger performance
to satisfy the requirement for a given application. However, heat
exchanger effectiveness is a phenomenal measurement, not from
the viewpoint of irreversibility of heat transfer, and it can not con-
struct a direct relation of the desired heat exchanger performance
for a specific application to such design parameters as heat transfer
coefficient, surface area, and heat capacity rates of fluids.
Fig. 1. Sketch of the fluid temperature variations versus the thermal conductance in
On the other hand, Guo et al. [17] introduced a physical quan- a parallelflow heat exchanger.
tity, termed entransy, to study heat transfer processes. The defini-
tion of entransy is
dissipation during the fluid flows are negligible. At opposite sides
1
G¼ UT; ð2Þ of each heat transfer element with the thermal conductance of
2 dkA, the temperatures of hot and cold fluids are Th and Tc, respec-
where U and T are the internal energy and the temperature of an ob- tively, and hence the heat transferred across the differential ele-
ject, respectively. Accompanying the thermal energy during heat ment, as indicated by contour shading, is expressed as
transfer, the entransy will be transported and partly dissipated,
dq ¼ ðT h  T c ÞdkA: ð5Þ
which is similar to electric energy transportation and dissipation
along with the charge during electric conduction. Moreover, analo- Integrating Eq. (5) over the entire thermal conductance gives
gous to electric resistance defined as the ratio of electric energy dis- the total heat transfer rate in the heat exchanger
sipation rate to squared electric flow rate, Guo et al. [17,30] defined Z Q Z kA
the ratio of entransy dissipation rate to squared heat flow rate as a Q¼ dq ¼ ðT h  T c ÞdkA
common definition of thermal resistance, termed entransy dissipa- 0 0

tion-based thermal resistance, ðT h;a  T c;c Þ  ðT h;b  T c;d Þ

¼ kA ; ð6Þ
lnðT h;a  T c;c Þ  lnðT h;b  T c;d Þ
Uh
Rh ¼ ; ð3Þ where Th,a and Th,b are the inlet and outlet temperatures of the hot
Q2
fluid, while Tc,c and Tc,d are those of the cold fluid, respectively. The
where Uh and Q are the total entransy dissipation rate and heat flow subscripts h and c represent the hot and cold fluids, respectively.
rate during heat transfer. Obviously, the area between the curves ab and cd is exactly the total
For a heat exchanger with arbitrary geometrical structures, the heat transfer rate.
EDTR is a function of heat exchanger effectiveness and heat capac- Applying the energy conservation principle to each of the differ-
ity rates of fluids [29,30] ential elements, it follows that the heat lost by the hot fluid over a
  differential element should be the same as that gained by the cold
1 1 1 
Rh ¼  ðC þ 1Þ ; ð4Þ fluid, which both equal to the heat transferred through the ele-
_ p Þmin e 2
ðmc
ments, that is
where ðmc _ p Þmin is the minimum of the heat capacity rates of hot and _ h dhh ¼ m
dq ¼ m _ c dhc ; ð7Þ
cold fluids, and C⁄ is simply a ratio of the smaller to larger heat
capacity rate for the two fluid streams, C⁄ = (mcp)min/(mcp)max. Eq. where m_ is the mass flow rate, and h the specific enthalpy.
(4) connects the entransy dissipation-based thermal resistance, Integrating Eq. (7), we will obtain the total heat transfer rate in
i.e. heat transfer irreversibility, to the heat exchanger effectiveness the heat exchange from the viewpoint of energy conservation
and the heat capacity rates of fluids. In addition, it does not depend _ h ðhh;a  hh;b Þ ¼ m
Q ¼m _ c ðhc;d  hc;c Þ: ð8Þ
on the flow arrangement of heat exchanger, and hence useful for the
performance comparison among heat exchangers with different For a heat exchanger without any phase-change fluid, if the spe-
flow arrangements. Therefore, by this newly developed thermal cific heats of both fluids are constant, Eq. (7) is rewritten as
resistance, the thermal performance of heat exchangers will be 1
evaluated conveniently [29,30]. dT h ¼  dq; ð9Þ
_ h cp;h
m

3. Entransy dissipation and EDTR of heat transfer in different 1

dT c ¼ dq ð10Þ
types of two-fluid heat exchangers _ c cp;c
m
and Eq. (8) is rewritten as
3.1. Parallelflow heat exchangers
_ h cp;h ðT h;a  T h;b Þ ¼ m
Q ¼m _ c cp;c ðT c;d  T c;c Þ: ð11Þ
Fig. 1 is a sketch of the temperature variations of both hot and
Based on Eqs. (9) and (10), Fig. 2 gives the fluid temperature
cold fluids versus the thermal conductance kA, the product of over-
variations versus the heat transfer rate q. As shown, the shaded
all heat transfer coefficient k and surface area A, for a parallelflow
area is:
heat exchanger with the following assumptions: (1) the heat ex-
changer is insulated from its surroundings, and (2) the axial con- dS ¼ T h dq  T c dq; ð12Þ
duction along the heat transfer surface and the viscous
 Q. Chen / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 60 (2013) 156–162 159

temperature of hot fluid remains constant in the heat exchanger,

and then the total rates of heat transfer and entransy dissipation
are
ðT h  T c;c Þ  ðT h  T c;d Þ
Q ¼ kA ð16Þ
lnðT h  T c;c Þ  lnðT h  T c;d Þ
and
2T h  ðT c;c þ T c;d Þ
Uh ¼ Q: ð17Þ
2
Substituting Eqs. (8), (16) and (17) into the definition of EDTR
yields the formula of such thermal resistance for phase-change
on one fluid side heat exchangers:
 h  i
1
exp m_ c1cp;c kA þ 1
_ c cp;c
m
Fig. 2. Sketch of the fluid temperature variations versus the heat transfer rate in a h   i :
Rh;p ¼ ð18Þ
parallelflow heat exchanger.
2 exp m_ c1cp;c kA  1

It is founded that when the hot fluid has a much larger heat
where the first term on the right-hand side represents the entransy capacity rate than that of the cold fluid, Eq. (15) is equivalent to
output accompanying the thermal energy dq flowing out of the hot Eq. (18). That is, the formula of EDTR, Eq. (15), for heat exchangers
fluid, while the second term represents the entransy input accom- without phase-change is suitable for analyzing the thermal perfor-
panying the thermal energy dq flowing into the cold fluid. There- mance of a phase-change heat exchanger, if and only if the heat
fore, the shaded area exactly indicates the entransy dissipation capacity rate of phase-change fluid is considered as infinity. This
rate during the heat transferred from the hot to the cold fluids approach is the same as those used in both the LMTD and e-NTU
[17,20]: methods.
d/h ¼ ðT h  T c Þdq: ð13Þ
3.2. Counterflow heat exchangers
The total entransy dissipation in the heat exchanger is deduced
by integrating Eq. (13) From a similar analysis as that performed in Section 3.1, Fig. 4 is
Z Uh Z Q
the fluid temperature variations versus the heat transfer rate in a
Uh ¼ d/h ¼ ðT h  T c Þdq counterflow heat exchanger, where the curves ab and cd represent
0 0 the hot and cold fluids, respectively. Similar to parallelflow heat
ðT h;a  T c;c Þ þ ðT h;b  T c;d Þ exchangers, the area of trapezoid abcd indicates the total entransy
¼ Q ¼ DT AM Q ; ð14Þ
2 dissipation rate in the counterflow heat exchanger
where DTAM is the arithmetical temperature difference between the ðT h;a  T c;d Þ þ ðT h;b  T c;c Þ
Uh ¼ Q; ð19Þ
hot and cold fluids in the heat exchanger. 2
Substituting Eqs. (6), (11) and (14) into the definition of EDTR where the total heat transfer rate Q is
for heat exchangers, Eq. (3), we get the formula of such thermal
resistance for parallelflow heat exchangers: ðT h;a  T c;d Þ  ðT h;b  T c;c Þ
Q ¼ kA : ð20Þ
lnðT h;a  T c;d Þ  lnðT h;b  T c;c Þ
np expðkAnp Þ þ 1
Rh;p ¼ ; ð15Þ
2 expðkAnp Þ  1 Substituting Eqs. (11), (19) and (20) into the definition of EDTR,
  the formula of such thermal resistance for counterflow heat
1
where np ¼ _ h cp;h
m
þ m_ c1cp;c , termed the flow arrangement factor for exchangers will also be derived as
parallelflow heat exchangers, which reflects the influence of flow nc expðkAnc Þ þ 1
arrangement on the heat exchanger performance. Rh;c ¼ ; ð21Þ
2 expðkAnc Þ  1
If the hot fluid is a condensing vapor, Fig. 3 shows the fluid tem-
perature variations versus the heat transfer rate q. In this case, the

Fig. 3. Sketch of the fluid temperature variations versus the heat transfer rate in a Fig. 4. Sketch of the fluid temperature variations versus the heat transfer rate in a
phase-change on one side heat exchanger. counterflow heat exchanger.
160 Q. Chen / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 60 (2013) 156–162

where the flow arrangement factor for counterflow heat exchang- Table 1
  Flow arrangement factors for different types of heat exchangers.
ers, nc ¼ m_ 1c  m_ c1cp;c .
h p;h
Type of heat exchanger Flow arrangement factor n
If the hot fluid is a condensing vapor, the formula of EDTR is  
rewritten as Counterflow heat exchanger nc ¼ m_ 1c  m_ c1cp;c
h p;h
 
h   i Parallelflow heat exchanger np ¼ m_ 1c þ m_ c1cp;c
h p;h
1 1 qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
_ c cp;c exp m
m _ c cp;c kA þ 1 TEMA E-type shell-and-tube heat exchanger ns ¼ 1 1
2 þ
Rh;c ¼ h   i : ð22Þ _ðmc cp;c Þ _
ðmh cp;h Þ 2

2 exp m_ c1cp;c kA  1

Obviously, the thermal performance of a counterflow heat exchan-

More importantly, comparison of Eqs. (15), (21) and (24) shows
ger with phase-change on one side can also be analyzed by the
that no matter parallelflow, counterflow or TEMA E-type heat
expression of EDTR for heat exchangers without phase-change, Eq.
exchangers, there is a general formula of EDTR
(21), if and only if the heat capacity rate of the phase-change fluid
is seemed infinity. n expðkAnÞ þ 1
Rh ¼ : ð28Þ
2 expðkAnÞ  1
3.3. TEMA E-type shell-and-tube heat exchangers
The only difference is the expression of the flow arrangement factor
n, as listed in Table 1, are diverse for different types of heat exchang-
In the aforementioned sections, according to the definition of
ers. This general formula is convenient for us to analyze the physical
EDTR for heat exchangers together with the equations of both heat
mechanism of every factor influencing heat exchanger performance,
transfer and energy conservation, we deduced the formula of EDTR
and finally effectively designing and optimizing the performance.
for parallelflow and counterflow exchangers, which are directly ex-
pressed by the thermal conductance of heat exchangers and the
heat capacity rate of fluids. For simplicity, we are going to derive 4. Influence factors of heat exchanger performance
the EDTR for TEMA E-type shell-and-tube heat exchangers based
on the e-EDTR and e-NTU methods. 4.1. Finite thermal conductance of heat exchangers
For a TEMA E-type shell-and-tube exchanger with one shell and
any integral multiple of two tube passes, the relation between e For an arbitrary heat exchanger, a hot fluid with a constant heat
capacity rate, C h ¼ m_ h cp;h , is cooled from the initial temperature Th,a
and NTU is
to the desired temperature T h;b Its temperature variation with re-
 qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 1 spect to the heat transfer rate is depicted by the straight line ab in
e ¼ 2 1 þ C  þ 1 þ C 2 cothðC=2Þ ; ð23Þ Fig. 5. If the cold fluid has the same heat capacity rate as that of the
hot fluid and flows in the opposite direction, the straight line cd in
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
where coth(C/2) = (1 + eC)/(1  eC) and C ¼ NTU 1 þ C 2 . Fig. 5 shows the temperature variation of cold fluid versus the heat
Substituting Eq. (23) into Eq. (4) yields the formula of EDTR for a transfer rate. In this case, the EDTR is
shell-and-tube exchanger with one shell and any integral multiple 1
of two tube passes: Rh;c ¼ : ð29Þ
kA
ns expðkAns Þ þ 1 As shown in Eq. (29), the EDTR is a simple function of thermal
Rh;s ¼ ; ð24Þ conductance. Therefore, increasing heat transfer area may enlarge
2 expðkAns Þ  1
thermal conductance, reduce EDTR, decrease total entransy dissi-
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi pation rate, i.e. irreversibility, and finally improve heat exchanger
1
where the flow arrangement factor ns ¼ ðm_ c Þ2
þ ðm_ c1 Þ2 .
c p;c h p;h performance. Theoretically, when the heat transfer area of a heat
According to the definition of EDTR for heat exchangers, we can exchanger is infinity, the temperature variation line cd of cold fluid
also easily obtain the total rates of both heat transfer and entransy comes closest to the variation line ab of hot fluid, as illustrated by
dissipation for TEMA E-type heat exchangers the straight line c0 d0 in Fig. 5. In this case, the EDTR vanishes, indi-
cating that heat is transferred reversibly from the hot fluid to the
DT AM
Q¼ ð25Þ cold one. Therefore, finite heat transfer area, i.e. finite thermal con-
Rh:s ductance, is one of the factors influencing heat exchanger
performance.
and

DT 2AM
Uh ¼ : ð26Þ
Rh:s
If the hot fluid is condensing in the shell-and-tube exchanger,
i.e. the heat capacity rate can be considered infinity, the EDTR is ex-
pressed as
 h  i
1
exp m_ c1cp;c kA þ 1
_ c cp;c
m
Rh;s ¼ h   i : ð27Þ
2 exp m_ c1cp;c kA  1

The formula of EDTR shown in Eq. (27) is the same as those shown
in both Eqs. (18) and (22), indicating that the formula of EDTR for
phase-change heat exchangers are the same regardless of their flow
arrangements, which is in conformity with our common sense, i.e.
the flow arrangement of fluid does not influence phase-change heat Fig. 5. The temperature variations of hot and cold fluids versus the heat transfer
exchanger performance. rate in different flow arrangement heat exchangers.
 Q. Chen / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 60 (2013) 156–162
4.2. Different heat capacity rates of fluids
The differential of Eq. (28) with respect to the flow arrangement
factor n yields:
expð2kAnÞ  2nkA expðkAnÞ  1
R0h ðnÞ ¼ : ð30Þ
2ðexpðkAnÞ  1Þ2
If the flow arrangement factor n is positive, the differential R0h ðnÞ
is positive, which means reducing the positive flow arrangement
factor n will decrease the EDTR. Oppositely, if n is negative, R0h ðnÞ
is negative, indicating that enlarging the negative flow arrange-
ment factor n will also decrease the EDTR. Therefore, it is con-
cluded that a smaller absolute value of flow arrangement factor
leads to a lower EDTR.
For a counterflow heat exchanger with prescribed thermal con-
ductance, when the heat capacity rates of both hot and cold fluids
are the same, the flow arrangement factor n vanishes, and hence
the EDTR is minimal. In this case, augmenting the heat capacity rate
of cold fluid from that of hot fluid will increase the flow arrange-
ment factor n from scratch, and thereafter enlarge the EDTR. As
shown in Fig. 5, the straight line c00 d00 represents the temperature
variation of the cold fluid with a larger heat capacity rate versus
the heat transfer rate. The heat capacity rate difference between
the hot and cold fluids results in that the area of trapezoid abc00 d00
is larger than that of trapezoid abcd, i.e. increases the entransy dis-
sipation and EDTR simultaneously during heat transfer. Oppositely,
decreasing the heat capacity rate of cold fluid from that of hot fluid
will decrease the flow arrangement factor n from zero, and also en-
large the EDTR of heat exchangers. In summary, increasing the heat
capacity rate difference between hot and cold fluids will enlarge the
EDTR, and consequently reduce the heat exchanger performance.
That is, the heat capacity rate difference between the hot and cold
fluids is one of the factors influencing heat exchanger performance.
4.3. Non-counterflow arrangements of heat exchangers
When the heat capacity rates of both hot and cold fluids are the
same, it is clear from Eqs. (15), (21) and (24) that the flow arrange-
ment factor n decreases from the largest for parallelflow heat
exchangers, np to shell-and-tube heat exchangers ns and the lowest
for counterflow heat exchangers nc, leading to that the EDTRs for
these three types of heat exchangers have the same sequence. As
shown in Fig. 5, the straight line c000 d000 is the temperature variation
of the cold fluid versus the heat transfer rate in a parallelflow heat
exchanger. It is clear that, the area of trapezoid abc000 d000 is large than
that of trapezoid abc00 d00 . That is, when the heat capacity rates of hot
and cold fluids are the same, the EDTR of parallelflow heat
exchangers is larger than that of counterflow heat exchangers.
Especially, when the heat transfer area is infinity, the formulas
of EDTR of counterflow, TEMA E-type and parallelflow heat
exchangers are
Rh;c ¼ 0; ð31Þ
pffiffiffi
2 1
Rh;p ¼ ð32Þ
2 mc _ p
and
1 exchangers have a general formula. From this general formula, it
Rh;p ¼ : ð33Þ
_ p
mc
It is clear that the EDTR increases from the lowest for counter-
flow to shell-and-tube and the highest for parallelflow heat
exchangers, which is quantitatively described by Eqs. (31)–(33).
Therefore, non-counterflow arrangement is also one of the factors
influencing heat exchanger performance.
161
5. The EDTR method for thermal performance design of heat
exchangers
A one shell and two tube passes TEMA E-type shell-and-tube
exchanger with the overall heat transfer coefficient k and area A
of 300 W/(m2 K) and 50 m2, respectively, is used to cool the lubri-
cating oil from the initial temperature Th,in = 57 °C to the desired
temperature Th,out = 45 °C. The mass flow rate and specific heat of
the oil are m _ h ¼ 10 kg/s and cp,h = 1.95 kJ/(kg K), respectively. If
the cooling water enters the heat exchanger at the temperature
of 33 °C, what are its heat capacity rate and outlet temperature,
and what is the rate of heat transfer by the heat exchanger.
According to the relation between EDTR and arithmetical mean
temperature difference, the total heat transfer rate in the exchan-
ger is
DT AM ðT h;in þ T h;out  T c;in  T c;out ÞðexpðkAns Þ  1Þ
Q¼ ¼ : ð34Þ
Rh;s ns ðexpðkAns Þ þ 1Þ
Numerically solving Eq. (34) and the energy conservation Eq.
(11) simultaneously, we can easily obtain the heat capacity rate
and the outlet temperature of the cooling water are 73.8 kJ/(s K)
and 36.17 °C, respectively, and the total heat transfer rate is 234 kJ.
In this problem, neither the heat capacity rate nor the exit tem-
perature of the cooling water is known, therefore an iterative solu-
tion is required if either the LMTD or the e-NTU method is to be
used. For instance, if using the LMTD method, the detail steps in-
clude: (1) obtain the required heat transfer rate of the exchanger
Q1 from the energy conservation equation of the oil; (2) assume
a heat capacity rate of the cooling water, and then calculate its exit
temperature; (3) according to the inlet and outlet temperatures of
both the oil and the cooling water, obtain the logarithm mean tem-
perature difference and the correction factor of the shell-and-tube
exchanger; (4) based on the heat transfer equation, derive another
heat transfer rate of the exchanger Q2. Because the heat capacity
rate of the cooling water is assumed, iteration is unavoidable to
make the derived heat transfer rate Q2 in step 4 close to the re-
quired one Q1. Thus, it is clear from the above comparison that
the entransy dissipation-based thermal resistance method devel-
oped in this paper can design heat exchanger performance
conveniently.
6. Conclusion
Based on the definition of EDTR of heat exchangers and its rela-
tion to heat exchanger effectiveness and NTU, the formulas of EDTR
and the corresponding EDTR method are developed for parallel-
flow, counterflow, and TEMA E-type shell-and-tube exchangers.
Different from the existing design method, e.g. the e-NTU, P-NTU,
w-P methods, where some phenomenological non-dimensional
parameters, e.g. correction factor u, heat exchanger effectiveness
e, and temperature effectiveness P, should be introduced, the EDTR
directly connect the heat exchanger performance to the heat
capacity rates and flow arrangements of fluid and the thermal con-
ductance of heat exchanger without introducing any phenomeno-
logical non-dimensional parameters.
The EDTR for parallelflow, counterflow and one shell and any
integral multiple of two tube passes TEMA E-type shell-and-tube
is clear that there are three factors influencing heat exchanger per-
formance including finite thermal conductance, different heat
capacity rates of hot and cold fluids, and non-counterflow arrange-
ment of heat exchangers. In addition, the total heat transfer rate in
a heat exchanger can be easily calculated through the thermal
conductance of heat exchanger and the heat capacity rates of
fluids. Therefore, the EDTR method contributes to the analysis,
162 Q. Chen / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 60 (2013) 156–162
comparison and optimization of heat exchanger performance from
the viewpoint of irreversibility of heat transfer.
Acknowledgements
I acknowledge helpful discussions with Z.Y. Guo. The present
work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of
China (Grant No. 51006060).
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