Enthelpy with regards to heat exchangers and air

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on calculating the final enthalpy of air after passing through a heat exchanger, given only the initial pressure and temperature. It is established that additional information about exit conditions or the fluid on the opposite side of the heat exchanger is necessary for accurate calculations. The conversation highlights the complexity of integrating the heat exchanger within a larger system that includes a compressor and turbine, emphasizing that without knowing the exit conditions, determining the enthalpy change is not feasible.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of thermodynamics principles, particularly regarding heat exchangers.
  • Familiarity with ideal gas laws and specific heat capacities (Cp).
  • Knowledge of system integration involving compressors and turbines.
  • Ability to analyze flow rates in thermodynamic systems.
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  • Study the principles of heat exchanger design and operation.
  • Learn about the First Law of Thermodynamics as it applies to fluid systems.
  • Investigate how to determine exit conditions in thermodynamic cycles.
  • Explore the use of software tools for thermodynamic analysis, such as EES (Engineering Equation Solver).
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Thermodynamics students, mechanical engineers, and professionals involved in HVAC design or energy systems who need to understand heat exchanger performance and enthalpy calculations.

gman89
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I'm just wondering how one would actually solve for the final enthalpy of air after entering a heat exchanger when the only known values are initial pressure and temperature before heating. I'm assuming that if air is modeled as an ideal gas you can just do (Cp)T, but how would you be able to find T in the first place? If the assumption of pressure changes being negligible, using the ideal has equations just leads to the final and initial temperatures being equal, unless I'm not doing it correctly.

Regards.
 
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Well you certainly need more than just the starting conditions. You have to know something about the exit conditions or about the heat exchanger.

In a 1st semester thermo class, you'd typically either be given one critical piece of information about the exit conditions or information about the fluid on the other side of the heat exchanger.
 
Well the thing is, the problem I have is that the heat exchanger is part of a bigger system that includes a compressor and a turbine, in which I need to find the turbine power output. My initial plan was to take the compressor and turbine into one system, which means I then have two flow rates in (one from surroundings and one from the heat exchanger) and two flow rates out (one to the exchanger and one back to the surroundings).

So basically you're saying that knowing the final and initial pressures which are equal at the heat exchanger, and the temperature going in it is impossible to find the enthalpy coming out?
 

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