Int. J. Exergy, Vol. 11, No. 1, 2012 35 Copyright © 2012 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Thermo-economic analysis of Heat Pipe Heat Exchanger for waste heat recovery in thermal systems Shanmuga Sundaram Anandan* and Anirudh Bhaskaran Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rajalakshmi Institute of Technology, Chennai 600124, India E-mail: speakdrss@gmail.com E-mail: krrbanirudh@gmail.com *Corresponding author Abstract: Thermo-economic analysis of Heat Pipe Heat Exchanger (HPHE) for waste heat recovery in thermal systems using the P1-P2 and NTU methods is presented. The optimum effectiveness of a HPHE is given as a polynomial equation, whereas the net savings and payback period are given in closed form to enable the HPHE designer to determine the optimised values directly. In addition to this, exergy analysis of HPHE for waste heat recovery in thermal systems is formulated. The variation of exergy efficiency with respect to change in inlet temperature is also presented. Keywords: HPHE; heat pipe heat exchanger; thermo-economics; P1-P2 method; optimisation; heat recovery; effectiveness; exergy analysis. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Anandan, S.S. and Bhaskaran, A. (2012) ‘Thermo-economic analysis of Heat Pipe Heat Exchanger for waste heat recovery in thermal systems’, Int. J. Exergy, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp.35–51. Biographical notes: Shanmuga Sundaram Anandan is a Professor and Head of the Mechanical Engineering at Rajalakshmi Institute of Technology, Chennai, India. He received his PhD from Anna University, Chennai in 2009. He received a BE Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Bharathiar University in 1999 and he holds university first rank in Thermal Engineering from the University of Madras for his post–graduate degree. His research interests are thermal management of electronics, thermal energy storage and heat transfer. Anirudh Bhaskaran received his BE with a first class honours in Mechanical Engineering from Anna University, Chennai. He is currently pursuing his ME in Energy Engineering at PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, India. His research interests are concerned primarily with energy conservation in thermal systems, electronics cooling, exergy and exergo-economic analyses of various types of energy systems.