International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 91 (2015) 150161

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International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer

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

A new approach to determining the intermediate temperatures of

endoreversible combined cycle power plant corresponding to maximum
power
Jing Wu
School of Energy and Power Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 18 July 2014
Received in revised form 20 July 2015
Accepted 20 July 2015
Available online 7 August 2015
Keywords:
Endoreversible cycle
Finite time thermodynamics
Entransy transfer efciency
Thermal efciency
Exergy

a b s t r a c t
Determining the optimal operating temperatures of power plants corresponding to maximum power is
important for not only the analysis of cycle performance, but also the selection of appropriate working
uids and their pressures. This study develops a new and convenient approach to determining the intermediate operating temperatures of n-stage endoreversible combined cycle power plants comprising n
(arbitrary number) Carnot heat engines corresponding to the twice maximized power output by using
the entransy transfer efciency as an auxiliary parameter. The new approach reveals that when the temperatures of the hot and cold reservoirs, the total thermal conductance as well as the stage number of the
n-stage power plant are given, only two of these intermediate temperatures have xed values, while the
other ones are variable. It provides considerable exibility for the designers to the selection of the optimal operating temperatures and appropriate working uids. The procedures for determining all the possible values of these intermediate temperatures are demonstrated. Next, a practical optimization
problem of a two-stage combined cycle power plant is taken as an example to illustrate the superiority
of the newly proposed approach to the existing one. Finally, the physical meaning of entransy transfer
efciency, together with its limitation is discussed and a comparison between the entransy-based efciency and exergy-based efciency is presented.
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Improving the thermal performance of power plants has been
regarded as one of the key issues in energy conservation. It is
known that in all cycles between two heat reservoirs of different
temperatures, the work output and the thermal efciency are maximal when the cycles are reversible. However, the power output of
a reversible cycle is zero since its operation time is innitely long
which is obviously meaningless for engineering applications. In
order to obtain a certain amount of power, models of endoreversible cycles by considering the irreversibilities of nite-time
heat transfer processes are proposed by Chambadal [1], Novikov
[2], and CurzonAhlborn (CA) [3] and developed by Andersen,
Salamon and Berry [46]. This method of modeling and optimizing
a real thermodynamic cycle was referred to as nite time thermodynamics (FTT), a branch of thermodynamics devoted to extend
classical reversible thermodynamics to include more realistic processes. By now, this model has been widely used to analyze the
performance of heat engines, heat pumps and refrigerators [79]
E-mail address: jingwu12@gmail.com
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2015.07.077
0017-9310/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

with the main goal of ascertaining the performance bounds and

optimal criteria of selecting thermodynamic parameters of heat
devices with nite time cycles.
One of the endoreversible models that a number of researchers
are interested in is the n-stage combined cycle power plant comprising n (arbitrary number) reversible Carnot heat engines, as
shown in Fig. 1 [10]. It is a universal model from which the optimal
performance concerning an arbitrary-stage endoreversible or
reversible combined Carnot cycle system may be directly derived.
Moreover, successful efforts have been made to use this model as a
reference one to analyze irreversible combined cycle power
plants by incorporating the most important irreversibilities into it
[8,1013].
Determining the intermediate operating temperatures of each
reversible cycle of the n-stage combined cycle power plant (i.e.,
T H;i and T L;i in Fig. 1) corresponding to maximum power output is
a major concern to engineers since they could select the appropriate working uids and their operating pressures according to the
optimization result. When the number of stage, n, is small (n = 1
or n = 2), there are only a few intermediate operating temperatures, and thus their values that correspond to maximum power

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J. Wu / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 91 (2015) 150161

T
TH

W1

TL, 1

Q2

(UA)2

TH, 2

W2

TL, 2
(UA)3
(UA)i

TH, i

..
.

Q3

Qi

TL, i
(UA)i+1

Wi

..
.

(UA)n

TH, n

Qi+1

Qn

TL, n
TL

Q1

(UA)1

TH, 1

(UA)n+1

quicker judgment about the choice of working uids and their

operating pressures.
The plan of this paper is as follows. Considering that the
entransy transfer efciency serves as an auxiliary parameter for
accomplishing the purpose intended, we start this paper in
Section 2 with a discussion of this concept from the aspects of its
origin, denition and application. In Section 3, we introduce the
new approach and describe the procedures for nding all the possible optimal intermediate temperatures. In Section 4, a two-stage
combined cycle power plant is taken as an example to illustrate the
feasibility and superiority of the newly proposed approach. A
discussion of the physical meaning of entransy transfer efciency
and a comparison between the entransy-based efciency and
exergy-based one are presented in Section 5. In Section 6, an
attempt is made to derive the optimal intermediate temperatures
based on entransy loss and entropy generation analysis. The paper
concludes with a summary and an appendix. All the processes/
cycles discussed are assumed to operate continuously under
steady-state conditions.

Wn

2. Entransy transfer efciency

Qn+1

2.1. Origin
s

Fig. 1. An n-stage combined cycle power plant comprising n reversible Carnot heat
engines, where each Carnot cycle in the system is connected through two heat
exchangers and (UA)i is the thermal conductance of the ith heat exchanger, where U
is the heat transfer coefcient and A is the heat transfer area. Only the rst and the
last heat engines are exposed to the hot (TH) and cold (TL) reservoirs, respectively
[10].

The essence of efciency, in general, is the ratio of the produced

valuable resources to the consumed ones, reecting how effectively the input is converted to the product. For instance, the
heat-work conversion efciency is dened as

Heat-work conversion efficiency

_
Energy out in product W

:
_
Energy in
Q in
1

can be readily obtained [1416]. When the number of stage, n, is

larger than two, however, the number of the intermediate temperatures that are unknown and need to be determined may be quite
large.
By now, several optimal operating conditions for the n-stage
combined cycle power plant have been reported. Bandyopadhyay
et al. [10] have noted that all of the intermediate operating temperatures corresponding to the maximum power may be chosen
Qn T L;i q
TTHL is satised.
arbitrarily, as long as the relation
i1 T

For a heat transfer process at steady-state, as shown in Fig. 2,

however, if the product and consumable are quantied in the unit
of heat (or heat ow), the heat transfer efciency, quantitatively
determined by the ratio of heat output to heat input, is always
100% because of the energy conservation law, that is,

Furthermore, Bandyopadhyay et al. [10] and Bejan [16,17] have

found that the power produced by an n-stage combined power
plant can further be optimized for a given total thermal conducP
tance (UA n1
i1 UAi constant) when UA is divided equally
among all the heat exchangers, that is, UAi UA=n 1 (the corresponding power is referred to as twice maximized power output
in this paper, as in Refs. [17,18]). Herein, it may raise a question: Is
there any approach to determining the intermediate operating
temperatures of an arbitrary-stage combined cycle power plant
that corresponds to the twice maximized power output? Obviq
Q T
ously, the relation ni1 T L;i TTHL alone cannot give a satisfactory

which is meaningless to evaluate the performance of a heat transfer

process.
Recently, from the analogy between heat conduction and electric conduction, Guo et al. [19,20] found that temperature, as the
thermal potential, corresponds to the electrical potential, and
Fouriers law corresponds to Ohms law. Therefore, the thermal
energy stored in an incompressible object should correspond to
the electrical charge stored in a capacitor. However, there is no

Heat transfer efficiency

Energy out in product Q_ out

 100%;
Energy in
Q_ in
2

H;i

TH

H;i

answer of this question since it can only tell us the relation of

the intermediate operating temperatures corresponding to the
once maximized power output rather than the twice one. To
the authors best knowledge, this question has not been addressed
by other existing literature either.
The purpose of this paper is to propose a convenient approach
to determining the intermediate operating temperatures of an
arbitrary-stage combined cycle power plant corresponding to the
twice maximized power output, and thereafter to show that when
T H , T L , n and UA are given, only two of these intermediate temperatures have xed values, while the other ones are variable, satisfying a general formula. This study will help designers to make a

.
Qin

TL

.
Qout

Fig. 2. Sketch of a heat transfer process.

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J. Wu / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 91 (2015) 150161

quantity in heat transfer theory corresponding to the electrical

potential energy of a capacitor. Hence, Guo et al. [19,20] dened
a new physical quantity, G, to represents the heat transfer capability of an object during a time period. Its differential form is
dG McV TdT and the integral form is G UT=2, where cV , T, M,
U are respectively the constant volume specic heat capacity, temperature, mass and internal energy of an object and G is called
entransy, which was referred to as the heat transport potential
capacity in an earlier paper [21]. Besides induction based on the
analogy between heat and electric conduction, the denition of
entransy can also be set up within the frame of continuum
mechanics [20] and it was found that the entransy is in fact a
simplied expression for the potential energy of the phonon gas
(thermomass) without the factor cV =c2 for convenience, where c
is the speed of light in vacuum.
The entransy theory stresses the fact that the same quantity of
heat may have different quantities of entransy due to their different temperatures (i.e., thermal potentials), and hence heat can be
weighted according to its entransy. For instance, consider a
one-dimensional heat transfer process through a nite temperature difference, as shown in Fig. 3. During this process, heat is
conserved due to the laws of energy conservation, but entransy
is not conserved and dissipated.
For any (one-dimensional or multi-dimensional) heat transfer
process, the entransy balance equation can be expressed in rate
form as [19,20]

G_ in
|{z}

G_ diss
|{z}

DG_ system
|{z}

Rate of change in the total entransy of the system

reduces to

G_ out
|{z}

Rate of total entransy entering the system

Entransy out in product

Entransy in
Entransy dissipation
1
Entransy in

gentransy

Rate of total entransy leaving the system

G_ diss
|{z}

Rate of entransy dissipation

Based on the concept of entransy dissipation, an optimization

principle, the entransy dissipation extremum principle (or the
minimum entransy dissipation-based thermal resistance principle)

TH
TL
.
Qin

.
Qout

Entransy
dissipation
.
Gout

Wall
Fig. 3. Graphical representation of entransy dissipation during a one-dimensional
heat transfer process through a nite temperature difference.

G_

gentransy _out 1  _diss ;

Gin
Gin

where gentransy is the heat transfer efciency determined in terms of

entransy, which is referred to as the entransy transfer efciency
[19].
The entransy transfer efciency can serve as a measure of
approximation of an actual heat transfer process to the reversible
one and evaluate the heat transfer performance. Its value ranges
between 0% and 100%. The lower limit of 0% corresponds to a complete dissipation in entransy, and the upper limit of 100% corresponds to the case of reversible heat transfer process through an
innitely small temperature difference with no dissipation in
entransy. For an actual heat transfer process through a nite temperature difference, the entransy-based efciency is always less
than 100% due to the always existing entransy dissipation.
In the case of one-dimensional heat transfer process with
boundary temperatures T H and T L , as shown in Fig. 3, heat and
entransy are entering from one side of the wall and leaving from
the other side. The rates of entransy entering and leaving the system are G_ in Q_ in T H and G_ out Q_ out T L , respectively. Substituting
them into Eq. (6) with consideration of Q_ in Q_ out Q_ , we can
get the expression of entransy transfer efciency of the
one-dimensional heat transfer process, that is,

G_

.
Gin

or

G_

where G_ diss P 0 (G_ diss 0 for reversible heat transfer processes and
G_ diss > 0 for irreversible ones). At steady state (DG_ system 0), Eq. (3)

G_ in
|{z}

As analyzed above, since heat is conserved during a heat

transfer process, the heat transfer efciency dened as the ratio
of heat output to heat input (see Eq. (2)) is always 100%, which
is meaningless to evaluate the performance of a heat transfer
process. The non-conserved characteristic of entransy, however,
provides a possible way to overcome this deciency. We can dene
the heat transfer efciency as the ratio of the entransy out in
product (the produced valuable resource) to the entransy in (the
consumed one), as [19]

Rate of total entransy leaving the system

Rate of entransy dissipation

2.2. Denition

G_ out
|{z}

Rate of total entransy entering the system

has been developed and applied to some heat transfer optimization

problems successfully (see the review paper by Chen et al. [20]).
Moreover, Cheng and Liang et al. [2224] extended the entransy
theory to heat-work conversion processes and by developing the
entransy balance equation for systems undergoing thermodynamic
processes, they found that for a heat-work conversion cycle, the
reason why the entransy ow at the heat ow outlet is smaller
than that at the inlet could be better explained by the concept of
entransy loss. Thereafter, the concept of entransy loss has been
applied to analyzing and optimizing the thermodynamic processes
or cycles by several research groups during the last 3 years
[2529].

Q_

Q_ T

gentransy _out _ out L _ L L :

Gin
Q in T H Q T H T H

It cannot exceed 100% for an actual process because of T L < T H ,

and becomes 100% under reversible conditions where T L T H .
2.3. Application to the analysis of some endoreversible models
For simplicity, consider rst a simple endoreversible model, the
Chambadals model [1], operating between the two thermal energy

J. Wu / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 91 (2015) 150161

T
TH

0.7

.
QH

THC
TL

2
1

.
QL

0.4

.
W

(a)

0.5

entransy

(b)

Fig. 4. Example of application of entransy transfer efciency: (a) a Ts diagram of

Chambadals model [1]; (b) variation of the thermal efciency of Chambadals
model with the entransy transfer efciency of the heat transfer process involved in
this model (assume that TL = 300 K and TH = 1000 K).

reservoirs at temperatures T H and T L , as shown in Fig. 4(a). This

model involves only one heat transfer process with boundary
temperatures T H and T HC and only one Carnot engine with
1-2-3-4-1 cycle that operates between T HC and T L .
The thermal efciency of the Chambadals model is

_
W

Q_

g _ 1 _ L 1 L :
T HC
QH
QH

This equation only refers to the upper and lower temperature

bounds of the reversible Carnot cycle (i.e., T HC and T L ) and is not
in a convenient form for expressing explicitly how the heat transfer
performance of the irreversible heat transfer process between T H
and T HC involved in this model affects its thermal efciency, g.
Thus, it is desirable to rewrite Eq. (8) as

T
T
1
g1 L 1 L 
;
T HC
T H gentransy

where gentransy is the entransy transfer efciency of the heat transfer

process between T H and T HC with the expression gentransy T HC =T H ,
measuring its heat transfer performance.
The combination form containing T H , T L and gentransy as shown in
Eq. (9) reveals that the thermal efciency of the Chambadals
model is inuenced by two kinds of efciencies: the Carnot efciency between the two thermal energy reservoirs at T H and T L ,
gC 1  T L =T H , and the entransy transfer efciency of the heat
transfer process between T H and T HC , gentransy . The Carnot efciency
reects the highest degree of heat that can be converted into work
by a heat engine operating between T H and T L (i.e., the upper and
lower temperature bounds of the Chambadals model). The
entransy transfer efciency gauges the degree of approximation
of the actual heat transfer process between T H and T HC involved
in the Chambadals model to the corresponding reversible one
(T H T HC ). It is just the imperfection originating from the nite
time heat transfer measured by the entransy transfer efciency,
gentransy , that causes the thermal efciency of the Chambadals
model, g, to be less than that of the corresponding Carnot efciency
operating between the same thermal energy reservoirs at temperatures T H and T L . For a totally reversible condition (that is, the heat
transfer is through an innitely small temperature difference), we
have gentransy 1 and then g 1  TTHL according to Eq. (9).
From Eq. (9), we can see that the higher the Carnot efciency,

gC 1  T L =T H , and entransy transfer efciency, gentransy , the higher

the thermal efciency, g. But in many engineering cases, T L is an
existing ambient temperature and T H is limited by the metallurgical strength of available materials. Consequently, increasing the
Carnot efciency, 1  T L =T H , for the sake of a higher thermal

153

efciency, g, is usually restricted in reality. By contrast, increasing

the entransy transfer efciency, gentransy , by the method of heat
transfer optimization is more realistic. For instance, optimizing
a heat transfer process for prescribed heat ux boundary conditions may result in a minimum difference between the two
boundary temperatures (i.e., T H and T HC ) and may thus lead to a
higher entransy transfer efciency and a resulting higher thermal
efciency.
Fig. 4(b) illustrates the variation of the thermal efciency, g,
with the entransy transfer efciency, gentransy , of the Chambadals
model for a given values of T L 300 K and T H 1000 K, showing
that the thermal efciency increases monotonically with the
increasing entransy transfer efciency of the heat transfer process
involved in this model.
To foster a deeper understanding of how the heat transfer
performances of the irreversible heat transfer processes involved
in an endoreversible model affect its thermal efciency (or COP),
the expressions of thermal efciency (or COP) of some other types
of endoreversible models [8,30,31] in terms of T L , T H and entransy
transfer efciency of each heat transfer process involved in these
models are given in Table 1. The derivation of these expressions
is discussed in detail in Appendix A.
3. New approach to determining the optimal operating
temperatures
According to Eq. (7), the entransy transfer efciency of the heat
transfer process occurring in the ith heat exchanger of the n-stage
combined cycle power plant (Fig. 1) is

gentransy;i

T H;i
;
T L;i1

10

where i = 1, 2, . . . , n + 1 (n P 1), T L;0 T H and T H;n1 T L .

On the other hand, the overall thermal efciency of the n-stage
power plant, g, is given by

Q_

g 1  _n1
Q1

11

and for each reversible heat engine, the second law of thermodynamic gives

T H;i
Q_ i

:
Q_ i1 T L;i

12

Combining Eqs. (10)(12) yields

g1

TL
1
 Qn1
;
TH
g
i1 entransy;i

13

which shows that the overall thermal efciency can be expressed in

terms of T L , T H and the product of entransy transfer efciencies of
each heat transfer process occurring in the n-stage power plant.
Bandyopadhyay et al. [10] has found that the overall thermal
p
efciency of the n-stage combined power plant is g 1  T L =T H
when it delivers maximized power output with the linear heat transfer law, independent of the stage number n. An equivalent result for
the two-stage combined cycle power plant has been reported by
Rubin et al. [14] and Bejan [16]. Substituting this result into Eq.
(13), the product of the entransy transfer efciencies of each heat
transfer process at maximized power output is
n1
Y

gentransy;i

p
T L =T H ;

14

i1

As mentioned in the introduction part, for a given total thermal

P
conductance, UA n1
i1 UAi , the twice maximized power output
is obtained when UA is divided equally among all the heat

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J. Wu / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 91 (2015) 150161

Table 1
Thermal efciencies (or COPs) of some types of endoreversible cycle expressed in terms of TL, TH and entransy transfer efciency.
Model

Ts diagram

Expression of thermal efciency/COP

T
TH

Novikovs model

1
g 1  1 i TTHL  gentransy

THC
TL

QH

(UA)H
2

4 4irr

QL

Carnot cycle with nite heat reservoirs

g 1  TTHL

TH

2
gentransy;I f H  g H

 
1
2gentransy;II
 gL

f
L

TH,out
THC

TLC

QH
3

QL

TL,out
TL

Brayton cycle with nite heat reservoirs

g 1  TTHL 

TH

TH,out

QH

CL
Cb

gentransy;II 1

CH
1
1
Ca gentransy;I

2
TL,out

CL
1
Cb
CH
1
Ca

QL

TL
s
T

Stirling cycle with nite heat reservoirs

TH

ih

TH,out
THS
TLS
TL,out
TL

2
1T L g
g H 
H
entransy;I f H

QH

QR
2

2gentransy;II
fL

g L

i1

1gentransy;R C R 1eR
_ g lnV max =V
mR
min

QR

QL

s
Reversed Carnot refrigeration cycle
Reversed Carnot heat pump cycle

COP

THC

COP

QH

TH

1
1

TH

gentransy;I gentransy;II  T L 1

1
T
1gentransy;I gentransy;II T L

TL

QL

TLC

exchangers, i.e., UAi UA=n 1 [10,16,17]. By combining

the expression of the heat transfer rate through the ith heat
exchanger, Q_ i UA T L;i1  T H;i , with Eqs. (10) and (12) and

gentransy;i

UAi UA=n 1 yields

Q0

n1i

p Qi1
T L =T H = k1 gentransy;k
:
n2i

16

Note that in order to make Eq. (16) in an elegant manner,

gentransy;k is assumed to be unity without attaching any

physical meaning to it.
Based on Eq. (16), all the possible intermediate operating temperatures of an n-stage combined cycle power plant corresponding
to the twice maximized power output for given T H , T L , UA and n,
can be determined in a step-by-step manner as follows:
k1

gentransy;i

gentransy;i1 2:

15

So far, we have obtained two equations, Eqs. (14) and (15), that
relate the entransy transfer efciencies of each heat transfer process involved in the n-stage combined cycle power plant corresponding to the twice maximized power output on the basis of
the optimization results reported in previous literature
[10,16,17]. Combining these two equations and solving for the
entransy transfer efciency of the heat transfer process occurring
in the ith heat exchanger, we nally get

(1) Substitute T H , T L and n into Eq. (16) and calculate gentransy;i

T

H;i
( T L;i1
) for i = 1 to i = n + 1 in sequence,

(2) Determine T H;1 and T L;n from the ratios gentransy;1 T H;1 =T H
and gentransy;n1 T L =T L;n ,

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J. Wu / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 91 (2015) 150161

(3) Choose arbitrarily other intermediate temperatures

between T H and T L as long as the ratios obtained by step
(1) and the relation T L;i1 < T H;i1 < T L;i < T H;i are satised
simultaneously.

the individual intermediate temperature selected as long as they

satisfy Eq. (16).

4. Case study and discussion

A few observations can be made from the procedures above.
First, the concept of entransy transfer efciency serves an auxiliary
parameter for the determination of all the possible intermediate
operating temperatures.
Another observation that can be made from the procedures
above is that two of the intermediate temperatures, T H;1 and T L;n ,
corresponding to the twice maximized power output are xed to
certain values, while all the other ones are variable. To illustrate
it more clearly, let us consider a four-stage power cycle with
T H 1200 K and T L 300 K as an example, which involves ve
heat transfer processes. Substituting T H 1200 K and T L 300 K
as well as n = 4 into Eq. (16) gives gentransy;1

gentransy;5

TL
T L;4

5
.
6

T H;1
TH

9
10
and

Then we obtain T H;1 1080 K and T L;4 360 K

from these two ratios, respectively, showing that T H;1 and T L;4 are
both xed. Moreover, we have gentransy;2

gentransy;4

T H;4
T L;3

6
7

T H;2
T L;1

89, gentransy;3

T H;3
T L;2

78,

using Eq. (16). The temperatures, T H;4 , T L;3 , T H;3 ,

T L;2 , T H;2 and T L;1 can vary arbitrarily as long as these three ratios
and
the
relation
360 K < T H;4 < T L;3 < T H;3 < T L;2 <
T H;2 < T L;1 < 1080 K are satised simultaneously, which means
that designers have enough exibility in selecting the appropriate
working uids and their operating pressures.
In addition, the twice maximized power output of the n-stage
_ total , with given T H , T L , n and UA,
combined cycle power plant, W
can be expressed as
n
X
_ total
_ i Q_ 1  Q_ n1 UA T H  T H;1  UA T L;n  T L
W
W
1
n1
i1

UA

T H  T H;1  T L;n  T L ;
n1

17

where T H;1 and T L;n are xed values according to the analysis above.
Then, we can conclude from Eq. (17) that the n-stage power plant
will generate the same amount of the twice maximized power
output with given T H , T L , n and UA, independent of the values of

Consider a two-stage combined cycle power plant. Assuming

T H 1200 K, T L 300 K, and the total thermal conductance,
UA1 UA2 UA3 , to be 3 W=K. A comparison between the
newly proposed approach and the existing ones [16] are shown
in Table 2.
Approach I is a two-step approach proposed in Ref. [16]. In the
rst step, the two-stage power plant is divided into two cycles: one
is contained between T H and T L1 (cycle 1), the other is contained
between T L1 and T L (cycle 2). The optimizations of cycles 1 and 2
are executed separately to obtain the temperature relations corre_ 1 and W
_ 2 for cycles 1 and 2, respecsponding to the maximum W
_ 1W
_ 2 is further (twice) maximized.
tively. In the second step, W
Inspired by the ideas of approach I [16], approach II could be
naturally developed here, which is also a two-step approach. But
note that this time the two-stage power plant is divided into two
cycles in a different way: one is contained between T H and T H;2
(cycle 10 ), the other is contained between T H;2 and T L (cycle 20 ). In
_ 1 and W
_ 2 for cycles 10 and 20 are optimized respecthe rst step, W
_ 1W
_ 2 is further maximized. The
tively, and in the second step, W
optimization results by approaches I and II are listed in Table 2.
Approach III is just the one newly proposed in this study. First,
substituting the known values of T H 1200 K, T L 300 K and
n 2 into the general formula, Eq. (16), gives gentransy;1

T H;1
TH

56,

gentransy;2 TTH;2
45 and gentransy;3 TTL;2L 34. Next, T H;1 1000 K and
L;1
T L;2 400 K are determined from

T H;1
TH

56 and

TL
T L;2

34, respectively.

But unlike the temperatures, T H;1 and T L;2 , which have xed values,
the values of temperatures, T H;2 and T L;1 , could be chosen arbitrarily

as

long

as

the

ratio

T H;2
T L;1

45

and

the

limitation

400 K < T H;2 < T L;1 < 1000 K are satised simultaneously. As a
_ 1 and W
_ 2 , corresult, the power output of the two Carnot cycles, W
responding to the twice maximized power output are also variable,
as given in the last column of Table 2.

Table 2
Comparison of the optimization process of the newly proposed approach and the existing ones and the optimization result corresponding to the twice maximized power plant
(TH = 1200 K, TL = 300 K and (UA)1 + (UA)2 + (UA)3 = 3 W/K).
Approach

I [16]

Illustration of
optimization
process

TH

TH2
TL2
TL

TH

QH

TH1
TL1

Optimization results

II

W1

Cycles
1&2

W2

Cycle 2

QL
First
Second
step
step
(Two steps)

TL1
TH2
TL2
TL

1000
2000/3
1600/3
400
200/3

TH

QH

TH1

Cycle 1

QM

III (this study)

W1

TH1
Cycle 1'

Cycles
1'&2'

QM

W2

QL

QH

Cycle 2'
Second
First
step
step
(Two steps)

TL1
TH2
TL2

W1

QM

W2

QL

TL
General formula (eq. (16))

TH1 (K)
TL1 (K)
TH2 (K)
TL2 (K)
_ 1 (W)
W

1000
2500/3
2000/3
400
100/3

1000
x (variable)
0.8x (variable)
400
200  0.2x (variable)

_ 2 (W)
W
_ 1 W
_ 2 (W)
W

200/3

100/3

0.2x  100 (variable)

100

100

100

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J. Wu / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 91 (2015) 150161

gexergy;i

Fig. 5. The optimal temperatures TH,2 and TL,1 determined by approaches I and II are
xed values (illustrated by two points), while those determined by approach III are
variable that meet the relation T H;2 45 T L;1 and 400 K < T H;2 < T L;1 < 1000 K simultaneously (illustrated by the line segment).

Approaches I and II give, respectively, only one choice of the

possible intermediate temperatures corresponding to the twice
maximized power output, and one is not necessarily better than
the other. Approach III, however, appears to be more efcient
and convenient since all the possible choices of the intermediate
temperatures can be obtained directly from Eq. (16). In fact, the
optimal temperatures, T H;2 and T L;1 , determined by approach I or
approach II, as shown in Table 2, is only one of the possible choices
determined by approach III, as illustrated in Fig. 5.
Note that the amount of the twice maximized power output,
_ 2 , is always the same (100 W for this example), as shown
_ 1W
W
in Table 2, independent of the values of the individual intermediate
temperature selected, verifying the analysis in the last paragraph
of Section 3.
5. A comparison between entransy-based efciency and exergybased efciency
Engineers make frequent use of exergy-based efciency to
gauge the heat transfer performance with the idea that exergy is
not conserved during irreversible heat transfer processes. The
expression is [32]

gexergy

Exergy out
Exergy destruction
1
;
Exergy in
Exergy in

18

which is also referred to as the second law efciency.

This denition of the exergy-based efciency, gexergy , has an
analogous form as that of the entransy-based efciency, gentransy ,
as shown in Eq. (5). Besides, both the exergy-based efciency
and entransy-based efciency can serve as the performance
parameters of heat transfer processes to measure the approximation of an actual heat transfer process to the reversible one. But
when we attempt to use the exergy-based efciency as an auxiliary
parameter to determine the optimal intermediate operating temperatures of n-stage combined power plants (as what we have
done by using the entransy-based efciency in Section 3), it is
found that establishing the explicit equations, like Eqs. (14) and
(15), that relate the unknown intermediate temperatures (i.e., T H;i
and T L;i ) and the known values of T H , T L and n with the help of
the exergy-based efciency is considerably difcult, especially
when the number of stage, n, is larger than two. The reason is that
according to Eq. (18), the exergy-based efciency of the heat
transfer process occurring in the ith heat exchanger of the n-stage
combined cycle power plant is

Exergy out
1  T 0 =T H;i

;
Exergy in
1  T 0 =T L;i1

19

which is much more complicated than the expression of the

entransy-based efciency as shown in Eq. (10). Therefore, in this
study, we take the entransy-based efciency instead of the
exergy-based one as the auxiliary parameter for the determination
of all the possible intermediate operating temperatures corresponding to the twice maximized power output.
Furthermore, the physical meanings of the entransy-based efciency and exergy-based efciency of a heat transfer process are
compared, as summarized in Table 3. We know that exergy (which
is also called the availability or available energy) is a measure of
the useful work potential of energy [33]. Thus, in the denition
of exergy-based efciency, Eq. (18), energy is weighted according
to its useful work potential and the exergy-based efciency measures the losses in work capability during heat transfer processes
[34]. If we investigate how well availability is used during the heat
transfer processes, it may be more appropriate to express this kind
of heat transfer performance by the exergy-based efciency. In the
denition of entransy-based efciency, Eq. (5), however, energy is
weighted according to its entransy (i.e., heat transfer capability
[19,20]), and thus entransy transfer efciency accounts for the dissipations in heat transfer capability during heat transfer processes.
If what we are concerned with is how well heat is transferred
during the heat transfer processes, this kind of heat transfer performance could be better characterized by the entransy-based
efciency.
Reconsider the one-dimensional heat transfer process through a
nite temperature difference as an example, as shown in Table 3.
Using Eq. (18), the exergy-based efciency of this process is

gexergy

Exergy out 1  T 0 =T L

;
Exergy in
1  T 0 =T H

20

which conveys an important message that is equally applicable to

both one-dimensional and multi-dimensional heat transfer processes: the value of gexergy is inuenced not only by the temperatures of the heat-transfer medium (T H and T L ) but also by the
temperature of the environment (T 0 ). It means that if we took the
exergy-based efciency as the performance parameter to assess
how well heat is transferred during the transfer process with given
boundary temperatures of T H and T L , a conclusion would be reached
from Eq. (20) that the heat transfer performance of this process in
winter is better than that in summer (see the sketch in the last column of Table 3) since the temperature of the environment, T 0 , in
winter is usually much lower than that in summer. But there is a
common-sense understanding that how well heat is transferred
for a heat transfer process depends on the conditions of the
heat-transfer medium only, and not on that of the environment.
Thus, from this example we can see that the exergy-based efciency
may be not applicable to evaluate how well heat is transferred
during a heat transfer process. On the other hand, the entransybased efciency of this one-dimensional heat transfer process is
gentransy TTHL . That is, the entransy-based efciency depends on the
temperatures of heat-transfer medium only, making no reference
to T 0 . It means that the entransy-based efciency has a xed value
if the boundary temperatures, T H and T L , of the heat transfer process
are given (see the sketch in the second column of Table 3). Hence,
the entransy-based efciency may be more appropriate to evaluate
how well heat is transferred during a heat transfer process.
The non-zero reference point is the reason for the environmental temperature-dependent characteristic of the exergy-based efciency. As we known, the reference point of exergy is the state in
thermodynamic equilibrium with the environment rather than
the absolute zero temperature. In contrast, the reference point of

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J. Wu / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 91 (2015) 150161

Table 3
A comparison between the expressions and physical meanings of the entransy-based efciency and exergy-based efciency of a heat transfer process.
Entransy-based efciency (referred to as entransy transfer efciency)
Expression

gentransy

Physical meaning

A measure of dissipations in heat transfer capability during a heat

transfer process; evaluates how well heat is transferred during this
process

TH

Entransy out
Entransy in

1

Entransy dissipation
Entransy in

Exergy-based efciency (referred to as second-law efciency)

out
Exergy destruction
gexergy Exergy
Exergy in 1 
Exergy in

A measure of losses in work capability during a heat transfer process;

evaluates how effectively availability is used during this process

TL

.
Qin

.
Qout

Wall

entransy is the absolute zero temperature (see Eq. (2) in Ref. [19]),
and as a result the entransy-based efciency is independent of T 0 .
Despite its successful application in determining the intermediate temperatures in this study, the concept of entransy transfer
efciency still has its limitation. It is clear from its denition,
dissipation
gentransy 1  Entransy
, that the non-unity entransy transfer
Entransy in

efciency for an actual heat transfer process is essentially due to

the non-zero entransy dissipation rate during this process. Based
on the entransy balance equation, the expression of the entransy
dissipation rate, krT2 , can be obtained (discussed in detail elsewhere [19,20]), which indicates that the entransy dissipation rate
depends only on the temperature gradient, rT, as well as the thermal conductivity, k. That is, only the imperfection originating from
the nite temperature difference heat transfer can be accounted
for by the entransy transfer efciency. Other imperfections that
may cause an actual process to deviate from the idealized one, such
as friction or unrestrained expansion during a work transfer process, however, cannot be gauged by this concept.
6. An attempt to derive the optimal intermediate temperatures
based on entransy loss and entropy generation analysis
It is noted that Cheng et al. [35] applied the concept of entransy
loss to the optimization of a two-stage combined cycle power
plant. Following the expressions of the total entransy loss rate
and entransy loss coefcient that have been obtained in their work
(see Eqs. (14) and (15) in Ref. [35]), for the n-stage combined cycle
power plant as shown in Fig. 1, we have

G_ loss Q_ 1 T H  Q_ n1 T L

21

and

T
T
G_
Q_ T  Q_
Q_
gG _loss 1 H _ n1 L 1  _n1 L ;
Gin
Q 1T H
Q 1TH

22

where G_ loss is the total entransy loss rate during the n-stage combined cycle power plant and gG is the entransy loss coefcient of
the combined cycle power plant. Substituting the relations
Q_ 1 UA T H  T H;1 and Q_ n1 UA T L;n  T L into Eqs. (21)
1

n1

and (22) yields





G_ loss UA1 T 2H  T H;1 T H  UAn1 T L;n T L  T 2L

23

and

gG 1 

UAn1 T L;n  T L T L
:
UA1 T H  T H;1 T H

24

Obviously, neither the total entransy loss rate expressed by Eq.

(23) nor the entransy loss coefcient expressed by Eq. (24) can be
used to determine the optimal intermediate operating temperatures of the n-stage combined cycle since the intermediate operating temperatures, T H;i and T L;i (1 < i < n), are not included in these
two expressions at all. For the same reason, the total entropy generation rate of the n-stage combined cycle, S_ gen , with the expression as

UA1
Q_ n1 Q_ 1 UAn1
T L;n  T L 
T H  T H;1 ;


S_ gen
TL
TH
TL
TH

25

cannot be used to determine the intermediate operating temperatures either.

In fact, for the application of total entransy loss rate or entropy
generation rate, it has been shown that larger total entransy loss
rate or smaller total entropy generation rate leads to larger total
power output when the preconditions (i.e., T H , T L and Q_ 1 are xed)
are satised [35]. For the discussed n-stage combined cycle, Q_ 1 is
not xed and thus the preconditions are not satised. This is the
reason why the concept of total entransy loss rate or entropy generation rate is not applicable to this problem. Moreover, for the
application of entransy loss coefcient, it has been shown [35] that
when T L and T H are xed, the larger entransy loss coefcient, the
larger thermal efciency will be since the entransy loss coefcient,
gG , shown in Eq. (22) can be rewritten in terms of T L , T H and the
thermal efciency, g, as

Q_

gG 1  _n1 L 1  L
TH
Q 1T H

_ total
Q_ 1  W
_
Q1

!
1

TL
1  g:
TH

26

But notice that the optimization objective of the discussed problem

in this paper is the maximized power output rather than the maximized thermal efciency. Therefore, the concept of entransy loss
coefcient is not applicable to the discussed problem.
Now we apply the concept of entransy loss or entropy generation to each Carnot engine involved in the n-stage combined cycle
in an attempt to obtain the optimal intermediate temperatures in
terms of the entransy loss extremum or entropy generation minimization. For simplicity, we assume that n = 2. Following the studies in Ref. [16], we divide the two-stage power plant into two
cycles: one is contained between T H and T L1 (cycle 1), the other
is contained between T L1 and T L (cycle 2) (see the gure in the second column of Table 2) and the temperature level T L1 is assumed to
be xed at rst, as in Ref. [16].
The entransy loss rate and entropy generation rate during the
operation of cycle 1 are respectively

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J. Wu / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 91 (2015) 150161

G_ loss;cycle 1 Q_ H T H  Q_ M T L1

27

and

1
1
S_ gen;cycle 1 Q_ H
 :
T H1 T H
Substituting
the
relations
Q_ H =Q_ M T H1 =T L1
Q_ H UAH T H  T H1 into Eqs. (27) and (28) gives

T2
G_ loss;cycle 1 UAH T H  T H1 T H  L1
T H1

28
and

29

and



T H T H1

2 :
S_ gen;cycle 1 UAH
T H1 T H

30

By solving @ G_ loss;cycle 1 =@T H1 0 and @ S_ gen;cycle 1 =@T H1 0, we get

T H1 T L1 and T H1 T H , respectively. Obviously, these results are
different from the optimal results that obtained by Ref. [16] or
by the newly proposed approach. It veries again that the entransy
loss or the entropy generation is not applicable to the determination of the optimal intermediate temperatures, and then the optimization analysis of cycle 2 in terms of the entransy loss
extremum or entropy generation minimization is unnecessary.
Bejan has pointed out that Eq. (30) denies an essential part of
the physics of the optimization process, namely, the fact that Q_ H
must be free to vary [17]. Then he introduced an additional source
of entropy generation on the outside of the visible connes of the
power plant (see Fig. 8.12 in Ref. [17]). By this method, Bejan
proved that the maximum power output and the minimum
entropy generation lead to the same optimal designs [17]. That
is, the optimal operating temperatures corresponding to the twice
maximized power output can also be derived by minimizing the
entropy generation rate. But note that the cases analyzed in Ref.
[17] are only for n = 1 (i.e., the Chambadals model or CA model).
For the cases of n P 2, the proof that the maximum power output
and minimum entropy generation lead to the same design may be
not as simple as that for the cases of n = 1 since we may need to
introduce several more additional sources of entropy generation
on the outside of the visible connes of the n-stage power plant.
More importantly, even if this proof is completed, it only means
that the maximum power output and minimum entropy generation result in the same optimal designs. But as demonstrated in
Section 4, the method of maximum power output (i.e., the
approach I or II as shown in Table 2) can give only one choice of
the intermediate temperatures corresponding to the twice maximized power output. Hence, it is still impossible to nd all of the
optimal intermediate operating temperatures in terms of entropy
generation minimization.
7. Concluding remarks
Entransy transfer efciency, dened as the ratio of the entransy
out to entransy in, can serve as a measure of approximation of an
actual heat transfer process to a reversible one. By using the
entransy transfer efciency as an auxiliary parameter, a new and
convenient approach to determining the intermediate operating
temperatures of n-stage endoreversible combined cycle power
plants corresponding to the twice maximized power output is proposed. It is found by this approach that when the temperatures of
the hot and cold reservoirs, the total thermal conductance as well
as the stage number, n, are given, only two of these intermediate
temperatures have xed values, while the other ones are variable
whose values can be determined from the general formula, Eq.
(16). Moreover, the different choices of the variable intermediate
temperatures lead to the same amount of the twice maximized

power output. The new approach provides considerable exibility

for the designers in selecting the operating temperatures and
appropriate working uids with the aim of producing the twice
maximized power output.
A two-stage combined cycle power plant is taken as an example
to illustrate the feasibility and superiority of the newly proposed
approach to the existing one. It is demonstrated that the existing
two-step approach gives only one choice of the intermediate temperatures corresponding to the twice maximized power output.
The newly proposed approach, by contrast, could be more efcient
and convenient since it gives all the possible choices of the optimal
intermediate temperatures in a step-by-step manner.
A comparison between the entransy transfer efciency
(entransy-based efciency) and the second law efciency
(exergy-based efciency) is performed. Both efciencies can serve
as performance parameters of heat transfer processes to measure
the approximation of an actual heat transfer process to the reversible one, but they have different physical meanings. The
exergy-based efciency measures losses in availability during a
heat transfer process, while the entransy-based efciency gauges
dissipations in entransy during the process. If what we are concerned with is how well heat is transferred rather than how effectively availability is used, the entransy-based efciency,
independent of T0, may be more appropriate to evaluate the performance. Since establishing explicit equations that relate the
unknown intermediate temperatures and the known parameters
with the help of the exergy-based efciency is considerably difcult, we do not take the exergy-based efciency as the auxiliary
parameter for the determination of all the possible intermediate
operating temperatures in this study. But the entransy-based efciency still has its limitation: it can only account for the imperfection originating from the nite temperature difference heat
transfer, and cannot gauge other imperfections that may cause
an actual process to deviate from the idealized one, such as friction
or unrestrained expansion during a work transfer process.
An attempt to derive the optimal intermediate temperatures
based on the entransy loss and entropy generation analysis is also
made. The result shows that neither the concept of entransy loss
nor that of entropy generation is applicable for the determination
of all the possible intermediate operating temperatures of the
n-stage combined cycle power plant corresponding to the twice
maximized power output.
Conict of interest
None declared.
Acknowledgments
This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51206079 and 51356001) and the Fundamental
Research Funds for the Central Universities (2014TS116).
Appendix A. Derivation of expressions in Table 1
In this appendix, the derivation of the expressions listed in
Table 1 is given. The sketches of each model have been presented
in Table 1 and are not repeated here. Throughout the discussion,
we assume the hot and cold temperature limits, TH and TL, to be
given.
A.1. Novikovs model
For the Novikovs model, besides the external irreversibility due
to the heat transfer process between T H and T HC , the internal irre-

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J. Wu / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 91 (2015) 150161

versibility in the process of 3-4irr was also considered. The thermal

efciency of cycle 1-2-3-4irr-1 is

Q_

T s

s

g 1  _ L 1  L 4irr 1 :
T HC s3  s2
QH

A:1

According to Eq. (8), the entransy transfer efciency of the

heat transfer process between T H and T HC is gentransy T HC =T H .
Substituting it into Eq. (A.1) yields

g 1  1 i

TL
1

;
T H gentransy

A:2

A.2. Endoreversible Carnot cycle with nite heat reservoirs

In this model, the reversible Carnot cycle is coupled to two heat
reservoirs with nite heat capacities. Moreover, assume that each
of the two heat exchangers involved in this model cycle has nite
thermal conductance. As a result, the outlet temperature of the hot
stream, T H;out , is higher than T HC , while the outlet temperature of
the cold stream, T L;out , is lower than T LC .
Consider the heat transfer process in heat exchanger I, as shown
in Fig. A1(a). The rate of entransy transfer accompanied by heat
transfer from the hot reservoir (i.e., the consumed valuable
resource) is

G_ in

Q_ H

T h dQ_

T H;out

C H T h dT h

TH


1  2
C H T H  T 2H;out ;
2

A:3

where T h represents the temperature of the hot reservoir,

_ H cp;H is its heat capacity rate.
CH m
At the same time, the rate of entransy transfer accompanied by
heat transfer into the working uid (i.e., the produced valuable
resource) is

G_ out

Q_ H

T c dQ_ T c

Q_ H

dQ_ T HC Q_ H ;

A:4

where T c represents the temperature of the working uid and is

always equal to T HC during the heat transfer process.
In addition, considering linear heat transfer law, the heat transfer rate, Q_ H , in Eq. (A.4), can be given by

Q_ H C H T H  T H;out :

2T HC
:
T H T H;out

A:6

Similarly, the entransy transfer efciency of the heat transfer

process between the working uid and the cold reservoir
(Fig. A1(b)) can be obtained as

gentransy;II

T L T L;out
:
2T L

A:7

The heat transfer rate, Q_ H , can also be calculated by the LMTD

(logarithmic mean temperature difference), that is,

T H  T H;out
Q_ H UAH
;
T H T HC
ln T H;out
T HC

where i s4irr  s1 =s4  s1 is an irreversibility parameter.

gentransy;I

A:5
_

Substituting Eqs. (A.3) and (A.4) into gentransy GG_out and using Eq.
in

(A.5), the entransy transfer efciency of heat transfer process I is

A:8

where UAH is the thermal conductance of heat exchanger I.

To nd the outlet temperature of the hot stream, T H;out , combining Eqs. (A.5) and (A.8) gives


T H;out T HC T H  T HC e

UAH
CH

A:9

The outlet temperature of the cold stream, T L;out , can be derived

in a same manner, that is,


T L;out T LC  T LC  T L e

UAL
CL

A:10

where UAL is the thermal conductance of heat exchanger II, and C L

is the heat capacity rate of the cold reservoir.
Substituting Eqs. (A.9) and (A.10) into (A.6) and (A.7), respectively, the two entransy transfer efciencies become

gentransy;I



 UA 1
H
2T HC
TH
TH

2
1
 1 e CH
T H T H;out
T HC
T HC

A:11



 UA
L
T L T L;out 1 T L
TL


1
 1 e CL :
2 T LC
2T L
T LC

A:12

and

gentransy;II

Based on the above two equations, the ratios,

TH
T HC

and

TL
T LC

can be

obtained as

TH
2

 gH
T HC gentransy;I f H

A:13

and


1
2gentransy;II
TL

 gL
;
T LC
fL

A:14


where f H 1 eUAH =C H , f L 1 eUAL =CL , g H 1  eUAH =CH =


1 eUAH =C H and g L 1  eUAL =CL = 1 eUAL =C L , which are
xed for given UAH , UAL , C H and C L .
Hence the thermal efciency of the endoreversible Carnot cycle
with nite heat reservoirs, g 1  T LC =T HC , can be rewritten as

g1

TL
2
 gH
T H gentransy;I f H

! 
1
2gentransy;II

 gL
:
fL

A:15

A.3. Endoreversible Brayton cycle with nite heat reservoirs

Fig. A1. Sketch of two heat exchangers: (a) heat transfer process occurs between
the hot reservoir and the working uid; (b) heat transfer process occurs between
the working uid and the cold reservoir.

The Brayton cycle is an ideal cycle that describes the operation

of a gas turbine engine. It consists of two constant pressure and
two isentropic processes, as shown in Table 3 (1-2-3-4-1). The
working uid absorbs heat from the hot reservoir and releases heat
to the cold reservoir through two counter ow heat exchangers
with the numbers of heat transfer units NTUH and NTUL, respectively. The heat capacity rates of the hot and cold reservoirs as well
as the working uid are respectively C H , C L and C m , and assume

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J. Wu / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 91 (2015) 150161

that they are given. The inlet and outlet temperatures of the hot
reservoir are T H and T H;out , while for cold one, they are T L and T L;out .
As shown in Eq. (A.3), the entransy ow out of the hot reservoir
during the heat transfer process between the hot reservoir and the
working uid is

1
1
G_ in C H T 2H  C H T 2H;out :
2
2

A:16

At the same time, the entransy ow into the working uid is

G_ out

1
1
C m T 23  C m T 22 :
2
2

A:18

Accordingly, the entransy transfer efciency of this heat transfer process is

G_ out
T2 T3

:
T H T H;out
G_ in

A:19

In the same way, the entransy transfer efciency of the heat

transfer process between the working uid and the cold reservoir
is

T L T L;out
:
T1 T4

A:20

For the Brayton cycle, there should be T 2 =T 1 T 3 =T 4 . Thus, its

thermal efciency, g 1  T 1 =T 2 , can be rewritten as

T T4
g1 1
:
T2 T3

A:21

From Eqs. (A.19)(A.21), we obtain

g1



1
T L T L;out
:

gentransy;I  gentransy;II T H T H;out

A:22

The heat transfer rate between the hot reservoir and the working uid can also be expressed as

Q_ H C H; min eH T H  T 2 ;

A:23

where C H;min minC H ; C m ,

expression

eH

eH is the effectiveness with the

h

i
1  exp NTUH 1  C H
h

i :

1  C H exp NTUH 1  C H

A:24

In Eq. (A.24), C H minC H ; C m = maxC H ; C m and NTUH

UAH = minC H ; C m .
Combining Eqs. (A.18), (A.19) and (A.23) to eliminate T 2 , T 3 and
T H;out , the heat transfer rate, Q_ H , is determined to be

Q_ H



2T H 1  gentransy;I
1
Ca

gentransy;I

Q_ L



2T L 1  gentransy;II
gentransy;II
Cb

 C1L

A:29

where

Q_ H C H T H  T H;out C m T 3  T 2 :

gentransy;II

A:28

In Eq. (A.28), C L minC L ; C m = maxC L ; C m and NTUL UAL =

minC L ; C m . Combining Eqs. (A.27) and (A.20) to eliminate T 1 , T 4
and T L;out leads to

A:17

The energy conservation law gives

gentransy;I

eL

h

i
1  exp NTUL 1  C L
h

i :

1  C L exp NTUL 1  C L

A:25

CH

where

1
2
1


:
C a C H;min eH C m

A:26

In the similar lines, the heat transfer rate between the working
uid and the cold stream can be expressed as

Q_ L C L T L;out  T L C m T 4  T 1 C L;min eL T 4  T L ;
where C L;min minC L ; C m ,
expression

A:27

eL is the effectiveness with the

1
2
1


:
C b C L;min eL C m

A:30

Substituting Eqs. (A.18) and (A.27) into (A.22) to eliminate T H;out

and T L;out , yields

!
1
2T L Q_ L =C L
:
g1

gentransy;I  gentransy;II 2T H  Q_ H =C H

A:31

Then, using Eqs. (A.25) and (A.29) to eliminate Q_ H and Q_ L in Eq.

(A.31), we nally get

T
g1 L 
TH

CL
Cb

1

CH
Ca

1

! 0
@

CH
1
C a gentransy;I
CL
Cb

1

gentransy;II  1

A:

A:32

where the parameters, C H , C L , C a , C b are given values in many cases.

A.4. Endoreversible Stirling cycle with nite heat reservoirs
The Stirling cycle is another thermodynamic cycle which was
rst patented in 1816 by Robert Stirling. It consists of two isothermal processes 1-2 and 3-4 and two constant-volume processes 2-3
and 4-1. Two externally irreversible heat transfer processes occur
between the working uid and two reservoirs with inlet temperatures of T H and T L , respectively, through two counter ow heat
exchangers, as shown in Table 3. The heat capacity rates of the
hot and cold reservoirs are C H and C L , and assume that they are
given. The inlet and outlet temperatures of the hot reservoir are
T H and T H;out , while for cold one, they are T L and T L;out .
In the two constant-volume processes, heat is transferred
between the working uid and a regenerator. For an ideal regeneration, the heat stored in the regenerator during the process 4-1 is
entirely released to the working uid during the process 2-3. Nevertheless, in the real conditions, there is a regenerative heat loss,
DQ_ R , during the two regenerative processes, which can be
expressed as [30,36]

DQ_ R C R 1  eR T HS  T LS ;

A:33

where C R is the heat capacity rate of the working uid during the
regenerative processes, eR is the effectiveness of the regenerator,
T HS and T LS are the temperatures of the working uid in the process
3-4 and 1-2, respectively. Therefore, besides the irreversibility originating from the heat transfer processes in the two heat exchangers,
we should also take into account the irreversibility due to the nite
heat transfer in the regenerative processes where the amount of
heat loss can be regarded to transfer from T HS to T LS directly, whose
entransy transfer efciency is

gentransy ;R

DQ_ R T LS T LS

:
DQ_ R T HS T HS

A:34

Moreover, taking the heat loss into account, the net heat
absorbed from the hot reservoir and that released to the cold reservoir per unit time are

Q_ H Q_ 34 DQ_ R

A:35

J. Wu / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 91 (2015) 150161

and

Q_ L Q_ 12 DQ_ R ;

A:36

_ g T HS lnV max =V min and Q_ 12 mR

_ g T LS lnV max =
where Q_ 34 mR
_
V min , m and Rg are respectively the mass ow rate and gas constant
of the working uid, V max and V min are respectively the maximum
and minimum volumes of the working uid during the constant
volume processes.
Based on Eqs. (A.34)(A.36), the thermal efciency of the Stirling cycle is given by

Q_

_
W

 Q_

12
g _ _ 34
Q H Q 34 DQ_ R

1  Q_ 12 =Q_ 34




;
_ g ln V max =V min
1 1  gentransy;R C R 1  eR = mR

A:37

where 1  Q_ 12 =Q_ 34 is the thermal efciency of the Stirling engine
without the regenerative heat loss. The derivation of Eq. (A.15) can
be repeated here to obtain

1  TTHL

gentransy;I f H

i h
i1
2g
 g H  entransy;II
 gL
fL

1gentransy;R C R 1eR

A:38

_ g ln V max =V min
mR

where gentransy;I , gentransy;II are the entransy transfer efciencies of the

two heat transfer processes between the working uid and the heat
reservoirs, f H , f L , g H and g L are the same as in Eq. (A.15). In particular, if the regeneration is ideal, we have eR 1, and then Eq.
(A.38) reduces to Eq. (A.15).
A.5. Endoreversible Carnot refrigeration or heat pump cycles
In this model, the temperatures of the heat reservoirs, T H and T L ,
are assumed to be unchanged during the heat transfer processes
with the working uid (refrigerant).
The COP of the refrigeration cycle is

COP

1
Q_ L
Q_ L

;
_
_
1
W Q H  Q_ L TTHC
LC

A:39

where Q_ L is the heat transfer rate from the cold reservoir to the
working uid which is usually referred to as the cooling load, Q_ H
is the heat transfer rate from the working uid to the hot reservoir,
_ is the power input, T HC and T LC are respectively the temperatures
W
of the working uid during the two isothermal processes of the
reversed Carnot cycle.
Substituting the entransy transfer efciencies of the two heat
transfer processes, gentransy;I T H =T HC and gentransy;II T LC =T L into
Eq. (A.39) yields

COP

1
1

gentransy;I

g

entransy;II

 TTHL  1

A:40

If the reversed Carnot cycle is used as a heat pump, its COP

becomes

COP

1
Q_ H
Q_ H

:
_
_
_
W
Q H  Q L 1  gentransy;I  gentransy;II  TTHL

A:41

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