Finite-time thermodynamics (FTT) is one of the newest and most challenging areas in thermodynamics. The objective of this book is to provide results from research, which continues at an impressive rate. The authors make a concentrated effort to reach out and encourage academic and industrial participation in this book and to select papers that are relevant to current problems and practice. The numerous contributions from the international community are indicative of the continuing global interest in finite-time thermodynamics. All represent the newest developments in their respective areas.

Over 170 years ago, Sadi Carnot, a French engineer, published his famous article "Reflections on the motive power of fire" and established a new field of science: classical thermodynamics. Since 1985, the scholars in the Naval University of Engineering (from 1949 to 1998) have been making the research work in the field of finite time thermodynamics. This multi-authored book deals with the recent advances of finite time thermodynamics in the Naval University of Engineering. It illustrates how the gap between thermodynamics, heat transfer, and fluid mechanics is bridged. It also illustrates how the gap between physics and engineering is bridged. The readers should find the papers informative and useful for analysis and design of thermodynamic systems with improved performance. The authors hope that this collection of work devoted to finite thermodynamics will provide encouragement for further research in the field.

Over 170 years ago, Sadi Carnot, a French engineer, published his famous article Reflections on the motive power of fire and established a new field of science: classical thermodynamics. Since 1985, the scholars in the Naval University of Engineering (from 1949 to 1998) have been making the research work in the field of finite time thermodynamics. This multi-authored book deals with the recent advances of finite time thermodynamics in the Naval University of Engineering. It illustrates how the gap between thermodynamics, heat transfer, and fluid mechanics is bridged. It also illustrates how the gap between physics and engineering is bridged. The readers should find the papers informative and useful for analysis and design of thermodynamic systems with improved performance. The authors hope that this collection of work devoted to finite thermodynamics will provide encouragement for further research in the field.

This book presents the diverse and rapidly expanding field of Entropy Generation Minimization (EGM), the method of thermodynamic optimization of real devices. The underlying principles of the EGM method - also referred to as "thermodynamic optimization," "thermodynamic design," and "finite time thermodynamics" - are thoroughly discussed, and the method's applications to real devices are clearly illustrated. The EGM field has experienced tremendous growth during the 1980s and 1990s. This book places EGM's growth in perspective by reviewing both sides of the field - engineering and physics. Special emphasis is given to chronology and to the relationship between the more recent work and the pioneering work that outlined the method and the field. Entropy Generation Minimization combines the fundamental principles of thermodynamics, heat transfer, and fluid mechanics. EGM applies these principles to the modeling and optimization of real systems and processes that are characterized by finite size and finite time constraints, and are limited by heat and mass transfer and fluid flow irreversibilities. Entropy Generation Minimization provides a straightforward presentation of the principles of the EGM method, and features examples that elucidate concepts and identify recent EGM advances in engineering and physics. Modern advances include the optimization of storage by melting and solidification; heat exchanger design; power from hot-dry-rock deposits; the on & off operation of defrosting refrigerators and power plants with fouled heat exchangers; the production of ice and other solids; the maximization of power output in simple power plant models with heat transfer irreversibilities; the minimization of refrigerator power input in simple models; and the optimal collection and use of solar energy.

This book addresses the concept and applications of Finite Time Thermodynamics to various thermal energy conversion systems including heat engines, heat pumps, and refrigeration and air-conditioning systems. The book is the first of its kind, presenting detailed analytical formulations for the design and optimisation of various power producing and cooling cycles including but not limited to: • Vapour power cycles • Gas power cycles • Vapour compression cycles • Vapour absorption cycles • Rankine cycle coupled refrigeration systems Further, the book addresses the thermoeconomic analysis for the optimisation of thermal cycles, an important field of study in the present age and which is characterised by multi-objective optimization regarding energy, ecology, the environment and economics. Lastly, the book provides the readers with key techniques associated with Finite Time Thermodynamics, allowing them to understand the relevance of irreversibilities associated with real processes and the scientific reasons for deviations from ideal performance. The book is aimed at a broad readership, and offers a valuable reference book for graduate students, scholars and professionals working in the areas of thermal science and engineering.

The theory around the concept of finite time describes how processes of any nature can be optimized in situations when their rate is required to be non-negligible, i.e., they must come to completion in a finite time. What the theory makes explicit is "the cost of haste". Intuitively, it is quite obvious that you drive your car differently if you want to reach your destination as quickly as possible as opposed to the case when you are running out of gas. Finite-time thermodynamics quantifies such opposing requirements and may provide the optimal control to achieve the best compromise. The theory was initially developed for heat engines (steam, Otto, Stirling, a.o.) and for refrigerators, but it has by now evolved into essentially all areas of dynamic systems from the most abstract ones to the most practical ones. The present collection shows some fascinating current examples.

Although the basic theories of thermodynamics are adequately covered by a number of existing texts, there is little literature that addresses more advanced topics. In this comprehensive work the author redresses this balance, drawing on his twenty-five years of experience of teaching thermodynamics at undergraduate and postgraduate level, to produce a definitive text to cover thoroughly, advanced syllabuses. The book introduces the basic concepts which apply over the whole range of new technologies, considering: a new approach to cycles, enabling their irreversibility to be taken into account; a detailed study of combustion to show how the chemical energy in a fuel is converted into thermal energy and emissions; an analysis of fuel cells to give an understanding of the direct conversion of chemical energy to electrical power; a detailed study of property relationships to enable more sophisticated analyses to be made of both high and low temperature plant and irreversible thermodynamics, whose principles might hold a key to new ways of efficiently covering energy to power (e.g. solar energy, fuel cells). Worked examples are included in most of the chapters, followed by exercises with solutions. By developing thermodynamics from an explicitly equilibrium perspective, showing how all systems attempt to reach a state of equilibrium, and the effects of these systems when they cannot, the result is an unparalleled insight into the more advanced considerations when converting any form of energy into power, that will prove invaluable to students and professional engineers of all disciplines.