Francisco Elizalde-Blancas

By Armando Gallegos-Muñoz, Nicolás C. Uzárraga-Rodríguez and Francisco Elizalde-Blancas

Part of the book: An Overview of Heat Transfer Phenomena

By Victor Hugo Rangel-Hernández, Andrés M. Niño-Avendaño, José J. Ramírez-Minguela, Juan M. Belman-Flores and Francisco Elizalde- Blancas

In this chapter, an exergy analysis applied to a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC)/vapor adsorption refrigeration (VAR) system is presented. The influences of four significant parameters (current density, inlet fuel temperature, fuel utilization and steam-to-carbon ratio) on the exergy efficiency of both the SOFC stack and the SOFC-VAR system are investigated. In order to do so, a mathematical model is constructed in Engineering Equation Solver (EES) software to generate the simulations. The analysis shows that the calculated exergy efficiency is around 8% lower than the energy efficiency for both cases. Moreover, it is found that most of the causes of irreversibilities in the system are due to electronic and ionic conduction in the components. It is also shown that the exergy efficiency is substantially sensitive to fuel inlet temperature, which is evidenced by a bending-over behavior. Finally, in accordance with the calculated efficiency defects, the main exergy destructions are present in the heat exchangers, the SOFC, the afterburner and the generator.

Part of the book: Application of Exergy

By Armando Gallegos-Muñoz, Fabián Luna-Cabrera, Martín Picón-Núñez, Francisco Elizalde-Blancas and Juan Manuel Belman-Flores

This work aims at developing a heat exchanger (HEX) sizing approach considering the need to maximize the heat recovery within the limitations of pressure drop and space. The application consists in the recovery of the energy contained in exhaust gases coming from an internal combustion engine (ICE). Two heat exchanger geometries are selected as case studies. The design approach involves the application of design of experiments (DOE) techniques and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. DOE techniques are used to observe the influence of some selected parameters (factors) in the design of the heat exchangers, and CFD simulations are carried out to determine the performance of the heat exchanger. The information obtained is used to determine local Nusselt number correlations that are used for the design of the heat exchangers.

Part of the book: Heat and Mass Transfer