**1. Introduction**

This book is intended to be a useful source of information for researchers, postgraduate stu‐ dents, academics, as well as designers and engineers working in the fields of heat exchang‐

We would like to thank all the authors for their high-quality contributions and the publish‐ ing process manager for providing continuous support, which have made possible the com‐

Finally we would like to express our appreciation to our family members for their continued

**S M Sohel Murshed and Manuel Matos Lopes**

University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal

support and patience during the preparation of this book.

ers and related industries.

pletion of this book.

VIII Preface

This chapter aims to provide an outline of the various applications of heat exchangers, taking in particular attention related to advanced features as well as to briefly highlight the main aspects from each chapter contribution of this book.

The importance of the advances on the development of new generation heat exchangers and their innovative applications and the subsequent improvement in energy efficient processes relates directly with the energy issues that occupy the first place in the list of the most urgent to solve problems for mankind [1]. It is well accepted that any contribution to improve the way we deal with energy will help in solving our most dramatic problems like water, food, environment, poverty, violent conflicts, disease, education, and population.

Heat exchangers are present in every industrial processes from geothermal and fossil power generation to refrigeration and desalination, in general, as a fundamental part of energy transfer and saving systems. They are also present in our everyday life in all kind of vehicles (terrestrial, nautical and aeronautical), air conditioning, domestic heating and cooling, elec‐ tronics cooling, and domestic appliances. Heat exchanger technology has been extensively explored and reported in the literature. Nevertheless, there is always the need of more work in this field for a comprehensive understanding of the advances related to edge applications that will contribute decisively to improve the sustainable uses of energy.

In the first of this two book series, "Heat Exchangers—Design, Experiment and Simulation", our attention is centered on the fundamental aspects related to the making of a heat exchanger and its more recent developments [2]. The present volume complements the study of heat exchangers, having under view the aspects related to the innovation in terms

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons

of construction and materials and also related to their applications from the most common to the more special cases.
