A computational fluid dynamics modeling of natural convection in finned enclosure under electric field

Numerical modeling of the electric field effect on natural convection in the square enclosures with single fin and multiple fins is investigated. The interactions between electric, flow, and temperature fields are analyzed using a computational fluid dynamics technique. The parameters considered are the supplied voltage, Rayleigh number, size of enclosure, electrode arrangement, number of fins, and fin length. It can be concluded that the flow and heat transfer enhancements are the decreasing function of Rayleigh number. Moreover, the heat transfer coefficient is substantially improved by the electric field effect especially at the high number of fins and long fin length. Surprisingly, the maximum average velocity and heat transfer enhancement occur at the different electrode arrangements for the single fin and multiple fins.     

Electrohydrodynamic enhancement of heat transfer in vertical fin array using computational fluid dynamics technique

Electrohydrodynamic enhanced heat transfer of the natural convection inside an enclosure with a vertical fin array is numerically investigated via a computational fluid dynamics technique. The parameters considered in a numerical modeling are supplied voltage, Rayleigh number, inclined angle, number of electrodes, electrode arrangement, number of fins, and fin length. The results reveal that the flow and heat transfer enhancements are significantly dependent on the number and position of electrodes around the fins. Moreover, the heat transfer coefficient is substantially improved by the electric field especially at the large number of fins and the long fin length.     

Flow structure and heat transfer characteristics of a 90°-turned pin-finned wedge duct with dimples at different locations

In this study, numerical simulations are performed to investigate the effect of dimple location on the flow structure and heat transfer characteristics in a 90°-turned channel with pin fins. Results of the flow structure, heat transfer on the endwall, and friction factor are included in this study. It is found that the dimple location has an impact on the flow structure and heat transfer both for the pin fins arranged with in-line and staggered layout. The horseshoe vortex near the pin fin is influenced by the location of the dimple. The dimple enhances the Nusselt number on the endwall surface significantly. In addition, the dimple location has an effect on the low-speed recirculation, impingement, and vortex which are generated by the dimple. However, the dimple has very limited effects on the friction factor for all cases. It is also found that the area goodness factor and volume goodness factor are improved by the dimple.     

基于遗传算法的燃气轮机叶片内部柱肋蒸汽冷却通道的优化分析

针对叶片尾缘内部柱肋冷却方式进行数值仿真和优化分析。采用CFX软件进行数值仿真计算,建立圆形柱肋、水滴形柱肋和正方形柱肋3种柱肋形状下,不同柱肋间距的矩形通道模型,验证数值模型的正确性以及网格无关性。分析了顺排和叉排的排列方式下,柱肋形状和柱肋间距对下底面努塞尔数以及整个通道内压力损失的影响,最后通过MATLAB的遗传算法对仿真结果进行优化。研究表明：柱肋模型中,横向和纵向柱肋间距最小时,换热效果最佳,压力损失最大;在顺排和叉排中,正方形柱肋对通道的换热强度的提升效果最明显,圆形柱肋提升效果最小。     

Peripheral fins for blockage robustness

A peripheral finned-tube, cross-flow heat exchanger (evaporator) is briefly introduced that allows for uninterrupted and effective air flow in the presence of condensate or frost. The peripheral fins are connected to tubes with radial fins and the surface areas of both radial and peripheral fins allow for surface-convection heat transfer. The peripheral fins have a staggered arrangement to allow for alternate air flow paths in the presence of a blockage. Optimized fin structure is sought using one-dimensional fin models. The peripheral fins allow for significant surface-convection by using the stagnation–flow regions as well as the boundary–layer break ups. The CFD results show that the peripheral fins mitigate the pressure drop penalty due to blockages and in this regard present an advantage over the conventional fins. CFD results show that fin pitch can be optimized. The anisotropy of the peripheral fin structure may also allow for easy drainage of the condensate along the tubes when tubes are along gravity.     

The Influence of Strip Location on the Pressure Drop and Heat Transfer Performance of a Slotted Fin

In this article, a numerical study is conducted to predict the air-side heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of slit fin-and-tube heat transfer surfaces. A three-dimensional steady laminar model is applied, and the heat conduction in the fins is also considered. Five types of slit fins, named slit 1, slit 2, slit 3, slit 4, and slit 5, are investigated, which have the same global geometry dimensions and the same numbers of strips on the fin surfaces. The only difference among the five slit fins lies in the strip arrangement. Slit 1 has all the strips located in the front part of the fin surface, then, following the order from slit 1 to slit 5, the strip number in the front part decreases and, correspondingly, the strip number in the rear part increases, so that all the strips of slit 5 are located in the rear part. Furthermore, slit 1 and slit 5, slit 2 and slit 4, have a symmetrical strip arrangement along the flow direction. The numerical results show that, following the order from slit 1 and slit 5, the heat transfer rate increases at first, reaching a maximum value at slit 3, which has the strip arrangement of “front coarse and rear dense”; after that, it begins to decrease, as does the fin efficiency. Although they have the symmetrical strip arrangement along the flow direction, slit 5 has 7% more Nusselt number than slit 1, and slit 4 also has 7% more Nusselt number than slit 2, which shows that strip arrangement in the rear part is more effective than that in the front part. Then the difference of heat transfer performance among five slit fins is analyzed from the viewpoint of thermal resistance, which shows that when the thermal resistances in the front and rear parts are nearly identical, the optimum enhanced heat transfer fin can be obtained. This quantitative rule, in conjunction with the previously published qualitative principle of “front sparse and rear dense,” can give both quantitative and qualitative guides to the design of efficient slotted fin surfaces. Finally, the influence of fin material on the performance of enhanced-heat-transfer fins is discussed.     

Enhancement of Heat Transfer for Plate Fin Heat Exchangers Considering the Effects of Fin Arrangements

In the present study, the potential of rectangular fins with different fin types of inner zigzag-flat-outer zigzag (B-type) and outer zigzag-flat-outer zigzag (C-type) and with different fin angles of 30° and 90° for 2 mm fin height and 10 mm offset from the horizontal direction for heat transfer enhancement with the use of a conjugated heat transfer approach and for pressure drop in a plate fin heat exchanger is numerically evaluated. The rectangular fins are located on a flat plate channel (A-type). The numerical computations are performed by solving a steady, three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equation and an energy equation by using FLUENT software program. Air is taken as working fluid. The study is carried out at Reynolds number of 400 and inlet temperatures, velocities of cold and hot air are fixed as 300 K, 600 K and 1.338 m.s^?1, 0.69 m.s^?1, respectively. This study presents new fin geometries which have not been researched in the literature for plate fin heat exchangers. The results show that while the heat transfer is increased by about 10% at the exit of a channel with the fin type of C, it is increased up to 8% for the fin angle of 90° when compared to a channel with A-type under the counter flow. The heat transfer enhancements for different values of Reynolds number and for varying fin heights, fin intervals and also temperature distributions of fluids are investigated for parallel and counter flow.     

Experimental investigation of heat transfer during melting around a horizontal tube with and without axial fins

Melting phenomena around horizontal tubes with and without axial fins were investigated experimentally. While melting around a horizontal tube results in the well known deformation of the solid-liquid interface, a different heat transfer behavior is to be found by mounting nearly isothermal axial copper fins or nearly adiabatic axial PVC fins. Moreover melting patterns and heat transfer rates are influenced by the geometric fin arrangement. Mean heat transfer rates are correlated, depending on the different investigated convection schemes. Special attention was drawn to the fluid flow behavior at the interface, where Görtler vortices could be detected.     

Effect of micro-pin-fin arrays on the heat transfer and combustion characteristics in the micro-combustor

Micro-combustor is an important component elements of the micro-thermophotovoltaic (MTPV) conversion device. The combustion stability is critical to improve its thermal performance, and thus three kinds of combustors are compared by computational fluid dynamics (CFD), which includes single – channel combustor, alternate permutation combustor and in-line combustor. The influences of micro-pin-fin arrays on the performance of the micro-combustor are discussed. Results indicate that the maximum surface temperature of combustor with fins is about 100 K higher than that without fins and the mean temperature and heat flux of in-line combustor are always higher in magnitude than those of the alternate permutation combustor. Analysis in this paper reveals that comparing with single-channel combustor, the micro-combustor with fins greatly enhances the heat transfer process through the wall. There are low velocity zones in the tail of fins, which can gather the reactants and prolong the residence time which make the combustion more sufficient and improve the effect of stable combustion. Meanwhile, under calculated conditions, the influence of micro-pin-fin arrays on the combustion reaction is stronger as the flow rate increase. The fin array in micro-combustor does not only improve the wall temperature but also minimize the wall temperature difference along the axial direction. Moreover, when the inlet velocity is larger than 4 m/s, the hydrogen conversion ratios of micro-combustors with fins was not strengthened obviously with the further increase of inlet velocity.     

Employing exergy-optimized pin fins in the design of an absorber in a solar air heather

Heat transfer augmentation features for the improvement of heat transfer from the absorber-plate of a solar air heater to the working fluid are mostly fins however these features also increase pressure drop in the flow channel. The exergy optimization philosophy is adopted in the fin sizing for this air heating application; this optimization philosophy ensures that the maximum quantity of heat is transferred by the fins while generating the least entropy in the system thus conserving exergy. Results indicate that the higher the fin efficiency, the higher the heat conversion and delivery potential. Given an optimum fin length (efficiency) and superior coating absorptive vigour, useful energy losses in the heater can be minimized. Some important observations relevant in design are made.     

Electrohydrodynamic Induced Flow and Heat Transfer in Vertical Channel with Fin Array Attached

Electrohydrodynamic heat transfer enhancement of natural convection inside the finned vertical channels is investigated via a computational fluid dynamics technique. The interactions between electric field, flow field, and temperature field are numerically determined. Flow and heat transfer enhancements are significantly influenced at low Rayleigh number. The effect of electrode arrangement and number of electrodes to the average velocity and Nusselt number are expressed. An optimum inclined angle of the channel is recommended. Relation between the number of fins and fin length to the augmented flow and heat transfer is also analyzed.     

Effect of a shield on the hydraulic and thermal performance of a plate-fin heat sink

The hydraulic and thermal performance of a plate-fin heat sink undergoing cross flow forced convection with the introduction of a shield was investigated. With a CFD numerical method, the influence of fin width, fin height, number of fins and Reynolds number were assessed without and with a shield. A shield that tends to decrease the bypass flow effect has a great influence on the variation of the thermal fluid field and the performance of the heat sink. The results of attaching a shield show that more coolant fluid is forced to flow into the fin-to-fin channel to enhance the heat transfer, increasing the pressure drop; this trend is significant at low Reynolds numbers. The decrease of thermal resistance due to the shield diminishes with increasing fin height, but increasing the width of the fins has a more radical effect. For a shield at a particular Reynolds number, the fin geometry should be selected carefully to fit the demands of enhanced effectiveness of heat transfer and decreased power consumption.     

Enhanced thermal performance analysis of buried heat transfer tubes thermal storage system filled with microcapsule particles

The heat transfer enhancement performance of a phase change buried tubes thermal storage system is influenced by major parameters such as arrangement of heat transfer tubes, fin structure and fin geometry size. We developed a three-dimensional numerical model with two different arrangements and five different enhanced heat transfer structures respectively. For the sake of analysis the effects of arrangement of heat transfer tubes, fin structure and fin geometry size. In addition, we applied the enthalpy-transforming model to obtain the liquid fraction and location of the solid-liquid interface at different time in the phase change process. The numerical results show that the melting time of the thermal storage system model with a triangle arrangement is about 6.1% longer than that of the model with a square arrangement. Besides, the melting time of the model with 55 mm tube pitch is about 16.7% shorter than that of tube pitch with 60 mm. Moreover, the buried tube thermal storage system models with circle fins have the shortest melting time, which is 18 seconds. Melting time of the model with circle fins is about 40% shorter than that of the model with smooth tube. In addition, the melting time of the model with 3 mm fin thickness is 10 seconds, which is the shortest. The model with thicker fins means the shorter time of melting process. Moreover, the melting time of the model with 10.5 mm fin spacing is about 23.5% shorter than that of the model with 12.5 mm fin spacing, which is 13 seconds. In conclusion, the main factor of the melting time is the heat transfer area. It provides a guidance for the design and reconstruction of the type of heat storage structure.     

Optimization of short micro pin fins in minichannels

Finned minichannels are modeled in order to optimize microstructure geometry and maximize heat transfer dissipation through convection from a heated surface. Six pin fin shapes – circle, square, triangle, ellipse, diamond and hexagon – are used in a staggered array and attached to the bottom heated surface of a rectangular minichannel and analyzed. Also, using square pin fins, different channel clearance over fins are investigated to optimize the fin height of the fins with respect to that of the channel. Fin width and spacing are investigated using a ratio of fin width area to the channel width. Fin material is then varied to investigate the heat dissipation effects. Triangular fins with larger fin height, smaller fin width, and spacing double the fin width maximizes the number of fins in each row and yields better performance. Correlations describing the Nusselt number and the Darcy friction factor are obtained and compared to previous ones from recent studies. These correlations only apply to short fins in the laminar regime. Completely understanding the effects of micro pin fins in a minichannel is essential to maximizing the performance in small scale cooling apparatuses to keep up with future electronic advancements.     

A novel heat dissipation fin design applicable for natural convection augmentation

In this study, a comparative study of heat sink having various fin assembly under natural convection is investigated. The fin pattern includes a rectangular, a trapezoidal and an inverted trapezoidal configuration. Tests were performed in a well controlled environmental chamber having a heat load ranging from 3 to 20 W. From the test results, the heat transfer coefficient of the conventional rectangular fins is higher than that of the trapezoidal fins while the heat transfer coefficient of the inverted trapezoidal fins is higher than the trapezoidal one by approximately 25%, and it exceeds that of convectional rectangular fin by about 10%. The heat transfer improvements of the inverted trapezoidal fin are mainly associated with a larger temperature difference and inducing more air flow into the heat sink.     

Thermofluid characteristics of frosted finned-tube heat exchangers

The performance of frosted finned-tube heat exchangers of different fin types is investigated by experiments in this paper. The effects of the air flow rate, the air relative humidity, the refrigerant temperature, and the fin type on the thermofluid characteristics of the heat exchangers are discussed. The time variations of the heat transfer rate, the overall heat transfer coefficient, and the pressure drop of the heat exchangers are presented. The heat transfer rate, the overall heat transfer coefficient, and the pressure drop for heat exchangers with re-direction louver fins are higher than those with flat plate fins and one-sided louver fins are. The amount of frost formation is the highest for heat exchangers with re-direction louver fins.     

Heat transfer enhancement in hairy fin systems

Heat transfer inside fin systems composed of primary rectangular fins with large number of slender rods attached on their surfaces is modeled and analyzed analytically in this work. The terminology “hairy fin systems” is used to refer to this kind of fin systems. One and two dimensional analyses are employed in the analysis and appropriate performance indicators are evaluated in order to measure the superiority of hairy fin systems over rectangular fins. It is found that hairy fin systems can transfer more heat than rectangular fins under specific conditions. The enhancement in heat transfer through hairy fin systems is found to increase as the rods thermal conductivity increases or as both the rods diameter and main convection coefficient decrease. Moreover, decreasing the rods diameter is found to decrease the sensitivity of the heat flow within the hairy fin systems to the rods thermal conductivity. Finally, the results of this work demonstrate that the increase in heat flow through hairy fin systems is significant enough to allow them to be utilized in the design of thermal systems.     

Parametric study on the performance of a heat exchanger with corrugated louvered fins

The Taguchi method is a well-known parametric study tool in engineering quality and experimental design. This study analyzes five experimental factors (flow depth, ratio of fin pitch and fin thickness, tube pitch, number of louvers and angle of louver) affecting the heat transfer and pressure drop of a heat exchanger with corrugated louvered fins using the Taguchi method. Fifteen samples are selected from experimental database and the heat transfer and flow friction characteristics are analyzed. The results show that flow depth, ratio of fin pitch and fin thickness and the number of the louvers are the main factors that influence significantly the thermal hydraulic performance of the heat exchanger with corrugated louvered fins. Therefore, these three factors are considered as the main factors for an optimum design of a heat exchanger.     

Three-dimensional performance analysis of plain fin tube heat exchangers in transitional regime

Three-dimensional CFD simulations are carried out to investigate heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of a four-row plain fin-and-tube heat exchanger using the Commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics Code ANSYS CFX 12.0. Heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of the heat exchanger are investigated for Reynolds numbers ranging from 400 to 2000. Fluid flow and heat transfer are simulated and results compared using both laminar and turbulent flow models (k-ω) with steady and incompressible fluid flow. Model validation is carried out by comparing the simulated case friction factor (f) and Colburn factor (j) with the experimental data of Wang et al. [1]. Reasonable agreement is found between the simulations and experimental data. In this study the effect of geometrical parameters such as fin pitch, longitudinal pitch and transverse pitch of tube spacing are studied. Results are presented in the form of friction factor (f) and Colburn factor (j). For both laminar and transitional flow conditions heat transfer and friction factor decrease with the increase of longitudinal and transverse pitches of tube spacing whereas they increase with fin pitches for both in-line and staggered configurations. Efficiency index increases with the increase of longitudinal and transverse pitches of tube spacing but decreases with increase of fin pitches. For a particular Reynolds number, the efficiency index is higher in in-line arrangement than the staggered case.     

Experimental Study of Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop for H-type Finned Oval Tube with Longitudinal Vortex Generators and Dimples under Flue Gas

To enhance heat transfer and reduce fouling of the finned-tube surface in economizers of coal-fired power plants, heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics for H-type finned oval tube with longitudinal vortex generators (LVG) and dimples, both in-line and staggered arrangements, are studied experimentally under flue dust condition. In addition, the ash samples and heat exchanger surfaces after the test are analyzed to help understanding the ash fouling and tube wear mechanisms. Compared to the original H-type finned oval tube, the Nusselt number of H-type finned oval tube bank with longitudinal vortex generators and dimples is improved by 34.5–41.7% (in-line arrangement) and 28.1–31.7% (staggered arrangement) within the studied Reynolds numbers, while the Euler number is increased by 21.9–28.3% (in-line arrangement) and 19% (staggered arrangement) in the clean finned-tube surface state. In the stable fouling state, the Nusselt number is improved by 37.7–42.3% (in-line arrangement) and 27.8–45.1% (staggered arrangement), while the Euler number is increased by 22.9–25.2% (in-line arrangement) and 33.3–42% (staggered arrangement). The results show that the novel fin structures can both inhibit fouling and enhance heat transfer effectively.