Proposing and thermo-economic optimization of an annular-thermoelectric gas heat recovery unit with a novel hybrid fin-pin vane and porous insert

Heat recovery from the cylindrical surface of the exhaust gas pipes is one of the promising applications of annular thermometric generators (ATEG). A pipe-shape based heat exchanger can be attached to the inner surface of the annular-thermoelectric generator to recover the hot exhaust gas in the form of electricity generation. In this paper, a novel grid annular fin-based heat exchanger with porous inserts is proposed which can boost the output power of the ATEG up to 1.45 and 2.12 times compared to the conventional common pipe-based heat exchangers. A comprehensive parametric analysis is carried out to investigate the impact of various geometric and operational parameters such as porous insert height, porous insert angle, porous inserts length, Re number, number of thermocouples, and so on thermal, exergetic, and economic factors. An optimized value of height, length, and angle of the porous insert can maximize the output power of the proposed system. Economic analysis is also provided to identify the corresponding costs of the grid annular fin-based heat exchanger with porous inserts for the heat recovery aim.

Automated summary

A novel grid annular fin-based heat exchanger with porous inserts is proposed in this paper, which can boost the output power of the ATEG up to 1.45 and 2.12 times compared to conventional pipe-based heat exchangers. A comprehensive parametric analysis is carried out to investigate the impact of various geometric and operational parameters on thermal, exergetic, and economic factors. An optimized value of height, length, and angle of the porous insert can maximize the output power of the proposed system. Economic analysis is also provided to identify the corresponding costs of the heat exchanger for the heat recovery aim.