New 4th Year Undergraduate Course on Constructal Design of Energy-System Configuration

这门课是在讨论当前朝着越来越小的尺度发展的竞赛的一个重要方面。最终的、有用的设备总是宏观的。制造更小的组件越成功，安装更多这样的组件并将它们与保持它们正常工作所需的电流（热、流体、电）连接起来的挑战就越大。挑战在于推导宏观装置的流动结构。建设就是朝相反的方向前进，从小到大。本课程从原理出发，将设计作为科学的一部分来教授。结构设计概念使学生看到热力学缺陷的图形意义。本课程运用几何、变分微积分的基本原理、形状与结构的最佳化，以及纸笔解题。结构设计概念汇集了工程、生物物理学（如动物设计）和地球物理学（如河流流域）的几个分支，并教授了人工设计和自然设计之间的联系。

The course is treating an important aspect of the current race toward smaller and smaller scales. The ultimate, useful devices are always macroscopic. The greater the success in making smaller components, the greater the challenge to install larger numbers of such components and to connect them with currents (heat, fluid, electricity), needed to keep them working properly. The challenge is to deduce the flow configuration of the macroscopic device. To construct is to proceed in the opposite direction, from small to large.This course is teaching design from principle, design as part of science. The constructal design concept opens the students' eyes to the graphic meaning of thermodynamic imperfection. The course is utilizing geometry, elements of variational calculus, the optimization of shapes and structures, and pencil & paper problem solving. The constructal design concept brings together several branches of engineering, biophysics (e.g., animal design), and geophysics (e.g., river basins), and teaches the links between man-made design and natural design.