Entransy in Phase-Change Systems summarizes recent developments in the area of entransy, especially on phase-change processes. This book covers new developments in the area including the great potential for energy saving for process industries, decreasing carbon dioxide emissions, reducing energy bills and improving overall efficiency of systems. This concise volume is an ideal book for engineers and scientists in energy-related industries.

This book comprises heat transfer fundamental concepts and modes (specifically conduction, convection and radiation), bioheat, entransy theory development, micro heat transfer, high temperature applications, turbulent shear flows, mass transfer, heat pipes, design optimization, medical therapies, fiber-optics, heat transfer in surfactant solutions, landmine detection, heat exchangers, radiant floor, packed bed thermal storage systems, inverse space marching method, heat transfer in short slot ducts, freezing an drying mechanisms, variable property effects in heat transfer, heat transfer in electronics and process industries, fission-track thermochronology, combustion, heat transfer in liquid metal flows, human comfort in underground mining, heat transfer on electrical discharge machining and mixing convection. The experimental and theoretical investigations, assessment and enhancement techniques illustrated here aspire to be useful for many researchers, scientists, engineers and graduate students.

Rising pollution, climate change and the depletion of fossil fuels are leading many countries to focus on renewable-based energy conversion systems. In particular, recently introduced energy policies are giving high priority to increasing the use of renewable energy sources, the improvement of energy systems’ security, the minimization of greenhouse gas effect, and social and economic cohesion. Renewable energies’ availability varies during the day and the seasons and so their use must be accurately predicted in conjunction with the management strategies based on load shifting and energy storage. Thus, in order to reduce the criticalities of this uncertainty, the exploitation of more flexible and stable renewable energies, such as the geothermal one, is necessary. Geothermal energy is an abundant renewable source with significant potential in direct use applications, such as in district heating systems, in indirect use ones to produce electricity, and in cogeneration and polygeneration systems for the combined production of power, heating, and cooling energy. This Special Issue includes geothermal energy utilization and the technologies used for its exploitation considering both the direct and indirect use applications.

Thermohydrodynamic Programming and Constructal Design in Microsystems explains the direction of a morphing system configuration that is illustrated by life evolution in nature. This is sometimes referred to as the fourth law of thermodynamics, and was first applied in thermofluidic engineering, with more recent applications in physics and biology. The book specifically focuses on synthetic modeling and constructal optimization in the design of microsystemic devices, which are of particular interest to researchers and practitioners in the sphere of micro- and nanoscale physics, a mechanistically deviation from conventional theory. The book is an important reference resource for researchers working in the area of micro- and nanosystems technology and those who want to learn more about how thermodynamics can be effectively applied at the micro level. - Explains how the application of constructal theory can lead to more effective microsystems design - Offers an introduction to the fundamentals and application to different flow and heat/mass transport systems - Bridges the gap between theoretical design and optimization, from a practical point-of-view

Issues in Energy Research and Application / 2013 Edition is a ScholarlyEditions™ book that delivers timely, authoritative, and comprehensive information about Energy Economics. The editors have built Issues in Energy Research and Application: 2013 Edition on the vast information databases of ScholarlyNews.™ You can expect the information about Energy Economics in this book to be deeper than what you can access anywhere else, as well as consistently reliable, authoritative, informed, and relevant. The content of Issues in Energy Research and Application: 2013 Edition has been produced by the world’s leading scientists, engineers, analysts, research institutions, and companies. All of the content is from peer-reviewed sources, and all of it is written, assembled, and edited by the editors at ScholarlyEditions™ and available exclusively from us. You now have a source you can cite with authority, confidence, and credibility. More information is available at http://www.ScholarlyEditions.com/.

Proceedings of the 8th International Symposium on Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning is based on the 8th International Symposium of the same name (ISHVAC2013), which took place in Xi’an on October 19-21, 2013. The conference series was initiated at Tsinghua University in 1991 and has since become the premier international HVAC conference initiated in China, playing a significant part in the development of HVAC and indoor environmental research and industry around the world. This international conference provided an exclusive opportunity for policy-makers, designers, researchers, engineers and managers to share their experience. Considering the recent attention on building energy consumption and indoor environments, ISHVAC2013 provided a global platform for discussing recent research on and developments in different aspects of HVAC systems and components, with a focus on building energy consumption, energy efficiency and indoor environments. These categories span a broad range of topics, and the proceedings provide readers with a good general overview of recent advances in different aspects of HVAC systems and related research. As such, they offer a unique resource for further research and a valuable source of information for those interested in the subject. The proceedings are intended for researchers, engineers and graduate students in the fields of Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC), indoor environments, energy systems, and building information and management. Angui Li works at Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Yingxin Zhu works at Tsinghua University and Yuguo Li works at The University of Hong Kong.

This new volume of the annual review “Advances in Transport Phenomena” series contains three in-depth review articles on the microfluidic fabrication of vesicles, the dielectrophoresis field-flow fractionation for continuous-flow separation of particles and cells in microfluidic devices, and the thermodynamic analysis and optimization of heat exchangers, respectively.

Constructal theory has been extensively used to analyze and optimize many different shapes and structures in both living and non-living systems. It is generally considered to be a law that could govern the evolutions of shapes and structures in biology, physics, technology, and social organization. Accordingly, it seems that the constructal method is suitable for designing and analyzing all kinds of shapes and structures in the world. However, in most cases, the details for its applications were not carefully checked, meaning that it was often incorrectly applied, and that many unreasonable or inaccurate results were provided. This book systematically reviews and checks the applications of constructal theory in street design, economics, heat transfer optimization, flow systems, and explanations of natural structures and social phenomena. Every detail of the models, methods, optimizations, applications, results and conclusions is analysed, with careful consideration of theoretical derivations and typical examples. Accordingly, the problems and mistakes in the applications of the theory are directly pointed out and discussed in detail. The abuse and limitation of the constructal approach are also discussed. In many cases, it is shown that the theory has significant flaws and is even not applicable in certain circumstances. As constructal theory is widely used in the analysis and design of shapes and structures, this book will be essential for scientists, researchers, engineers, teachers, postgraduates and undergraduates in the fields of structure analysis, design and optimization in physics, biology, flow dynamics, heat transfer and thermodynamics.

Thermal analyses and optimizations are very ubiquitous and important in academic research and engineering applications. In this field, the entropy generation minimization has been widely used and found to be effective in many cases. Sometimes, it was even used without checking the applicability, and seemed to be a unified theory that could solve all thermal problems. Is this really the case? This book answers this question through detailed theoretical derivations and different numerical examples in heat transfer and heat-work conversion. It shows clearly that the theory has limitations and a definite application scope, beyond which it may provide unreasonable or incorrect results. Therefore, the entropy generation minimization is far from perfect. This book will be of interest to students, researchers and engineers in thermal science and engineering, as it will help the reader to apply the entropy generation minimization correctly.

Augmentation of heat transfer is important in energy conservation and developing sustainable energy systems. This book provides the science necessary to understand the basics of heat transfer augmentation in single-phase engineering systems. It considers theory and practice including computational and experimental procedures, evaluation techniques for performance, and new trends. Several applications of augmentation methods like surface modification, introduction of vortex flow and impinging jets, opportunities of ultrasound and magnetic fields, pulsatile flows, heat exchangers, and nanofluids are provided. Details of basic phenomena and mechanisms are highlighted. Key features: • Provides the fundamental science needed to understand and further develop heat transfer augmentation for future energy systems. • Give examples of how ultrasound and magnetic fields, vortex flow, impinging jets, surface modification and nanofluids can augment heat transfer. • Considers basic issues of computational and experimental methods for analysis, design, and evaluation of efficient and sustainable heat transfer. It is an ideal reference text for graduate students and academic researchers working in the fields of mechanical, aerospace, industrial, manufacturing, and chemical engineering.