HEAT TRANSFER, PRESSURE DROP AND DRAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF DIMPLED-LOUVER FIN GEOMETRY FOR AUTOMOBILE APPLICATIONS

摘要

The present study proposed a dimpled louver fin made by adding dimpled slots between thernfin base and the brazing line of the flat tube to reduce flow resistance and enhance drainability.rnNumerical simulations were conducted on the conjugated heat transfer of louver finrngeometries using the commercial CFD code. Drainability was tested for four enlarged plasticrnmodels made by a rapid prototype machine. The airflow pressure drop coefficient of therndimpled louver fin was 14% less than that of the baseline louver fin, the advantage increasingrnat low air velocity. The dimpled louver fin performed up to 5% better than the baseline fin inrnthe performance index of the heat transfer capability per unit temperature potential for thernsame fan power. The dimpled louver fin drained water substantially up to 20% better than thernbaseline fin in the dip test.