Exergy efficiency for radiation heat transfer

Abstract

One of the evaluation criteria for the performance of thermal processes is exergy analysis. Along with energy analysis, exergy calculations provide a clear and highly effective understanding of the performance of a system. Although exergy analysis has been extensively applied to many industrial processes, there are limited works for solar energy conversion systems that include the details of radiation transfer. The use of the Carnot efficiency expressions for calculating the exergy received from the thermal radiation source is questionable because it neglects the directional and spectral aspects of radiation heat transfer. In this study, the exergy efficiency calculations for radiation heat transfer in energy conversion systems are discussed. Comparisons of different expressions for exergy efficiency are presented, and the effects of source and sink temperature variations are explored.