Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T14:58:19.533Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3 - Energy Conversion Systems and Processes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 March 2021

Efstathios Michaelides
Efstathios Michaelides
Affiliation:
Texas Christian University
Get access

Summary

The application of the exergy methodology reveals the system components where high exergy dissipation occurs and improvements may be accomplished to conserve energy resources. The method is applied to several systems: heat exchangers, including boilers and condensers; vapor and gas power cycles, including cogeneration units; jet engines; and geothermal units. Calculations on exergy dissipation identify the processes and components where improvements would save energy resources. The calculations reveal that combustion processes waste a great deal of exergy, leading to the conclusion that direct energy conversion devices, such as fuel cells, utilize fossil fuels in a sustainable way. The exergy method is also applied to photovoltaic cells and thermal solar power plants, as well as to solar collectors that deliver heat. Significant exergy destruction occurs in wind turbines because of Betz’s limit and the wind turbine characteristics. A large number of examples in this chapter elucidate the exergy calculations and provide guidance and resources for the application of the exergy methodology to power and heat generation systems and processes.

Keywords

heat exchangerscondensersburnerssteam generatorscogenerationjet enginesgeothermalfuel cellsphotovoltaicswind turbines
Type
Chapter
Information
Exergy Analysis for Energy Conversion Systems , pp. 79 - 146
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Incropera, F. P., and DeWitt, D. P., Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer (New York: Wiley, 2000).Google Scholar
Tondeur, D., and Kvaalenf, E., Equipartition of Entropy Production. An Optimality Criterion for Transfer and Separation Processes. Industrial & Engineering Chemical Research, 26 (1987), 50–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michaelides, E. E., Energy, the Environment, and Sustainability (Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2018).Google Scholar
International Energy Agency, Key World Statistics (Paris: IEA, 2017).Google Scholar
REFPROP, Reference Thermodynamic and Fluid Transport Properties (Boulder, CO: National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2013).Google Scholar
Langston, L. S., Anticipated but Unwelcome. Mechanical Engineering, 140 (2018), 36–41.Google Scholar
Horlock, J. H., Cogeneration – Combined Heat and Power (Malabar, FL: Krieger, 1997).Google Scholar
Michaelides, E. E., Thermodynamic Properties of Geothermal Fluids. Geothermal Resources Council - Transactions, 13 (1981), 361–64.Google Scholar
Kestin, J., ed., Sourcebook of Geothermal Energy (Washington DC: US Department of Energy, 1980).Google Scholar
Michaelides, E. E., Alternative Energy Sources (Berlin: Springer, 2012).Google Scholar
Bockris, J. O’M. The Origin of Ideas on a Hydrogen Economy and Its Solution to the Decay of the Environment. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 27, (2002) 731–40.Google Scholar
Moran, M. J., and Shapiro, H. N., Fundamentals of Engineering Thermodynamics, 6th ed. (New York: Wiley, 2004).Google Scholar
Neburchilov, V., Martin, J., Wang, H., and Zhang, J., A Review of Polymer Electrolyte Membranes for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells. Journal of Power Sources, 169 (2007), 221–38.Google Scholar
Fuel Cells, US-DOE, Fuel Cell Technology Office, Washington DC (2015).Google Scholar
Wilcox, S., National Solar Radiation Database 1991–2010 Update: User’s Manual, Technical Report NREL/TP-5500-54824 (August 2012).Google Scholar
Shockley, W., and Queisser, H. J., Detailed Balance Limit of Efficiency of p-n Junction Solar Cells. Journal of Applied Physics, 32 (1961), 510–19.Google Scholar
De Vos, A., and Pauwels, H., On the Thermodynamic Limit of Photovoltaic Energy Conversion. Applied Physics, 25 (1981), 119–25.Google Scholar
De Vos, A., Thermodynamics of Solar Energy Conversion (Weinheim: Wiley-VCH, 2008).Google Scholar
Dubey, S., Sarvaiya, N. J., and Sheshadri, B., Temperature Dependent Photovoltaic (PV) Efficiency and Its Effect on PV Production in the World – A Review. Energy Procedia, 33, (2013), 311–21.Google Scholar
Kurtz, S. S., and Levi, D., 2017, Best Research-Cell Efficiencies, www.nrel.gov/pv/cell-efficiency.html, last accessed October 2019.Google Scholar
Betz, A.. Schraubenpropeller mit Geringstem Energieverlust, (mit einem Zusatz von L. Prandtl) Nachrichten von der Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, Mathematisch-Physikalische Klasse (1919) 193–217.Google Scholar
Vestas (2019) www.vestas.com/en/products/#! last visited October 2019.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×