Bejan’s Constructal theory and overall performance assessment: The global optimization for heat exchanging finned modules

Abstract

Bejan's Constructal theory has provided a dramatic contribution to the design of natural and industrial systems, mainly because all sort of flows tend to follow precise rules which Bejan was able to explain. Recently, for what concern heat removal systems, the Authors have extended the classical Constructal optimization to a broad range of 3-D geometries, also applying such results to the optimal choice of the suitable thermal carrier fluid. The definition of the Global Optimization was centred on the concepts of Relevance and Overall Performance Coefficient, which are technical parameters. This paper follows the principle of Constructal theory in the assessment of the Global Optimization to highlight how the coupling of the two may provide a tool becoming part of everyday decision making processes in future design. The results show not only which is the best performing module but also proves that, via the superimposition of a suitable Relevance value, the Overall Performance Coefficient allows for the correct characterization of the whole heat transfer process, so confirming the interesting perspective of the novel approach proposed.