Progress in entransy theory and its applications

Abstract

The entransy and entransy dissipation extremum principle proposed have opened up a new direction for the heat transfer optimization. The emergence and development of entransy theory are reviewed. Entransy theory and its applications are summarized from several aspects, such as heat conduction, heat convective, heat radiation, heat exchanger design and mass transfer, etc. The emphases are focused on four aspects, i. e., the comparison between entropy generation rate and entransy dissipation rate, the combination of entransy dissipation extreme principle with finite time thermodynamics, the combination of entransy dissipation extreme principle with the heat conduction constructal theory, and the combination of entransy dissipation extreme principle with the heat convective constructal theory. The scientific features of entransy theory are emphasized. © 2012 The Author(s).