Heat exchangers analysis based on second law thermodynamics

Second law thermodynamic analysis of single phase, two phase and nano-fluid heat exchangers are carried out based on entropy generation and exergy methods.The first law does not take into account the different irreversibilities namely due to heat transfer, pressure drop and mass unbalanced between streams.Whereas, the second law of thermodynamics considers all the type of losses.In the introduction section, the initial works of researchers who have first introduced entropy generation and exergy analyses of single phase, two phase and nano-fluid heat exchangers are presented.The simplest way of formulation of entropy generation and exergy analyses applied to heat exchangers considering the heat transfer and pressure drop irreversibilities are provided.The performance parameters such as entropy generation minimization and rational (exergetic) efficiency are adopted along with geometric and operating parameters.Some of the important results are presented to provide the importance of second law analysis of heat exchangers along with the first law.