Effects of Slitted Fins on the Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop Characteristics of a Compact Heat Exchanger

摘要

A compact heat exchanger which consists of air-cooled aluminium fins and copper tubes circulating refrigerant has been used in a cooling system for a long time. There are two key parameters to be seriously considered for a design of the heat exchanger and its performance improvement. These are the heat transfer rate and pressure drop coefficient which varies with the change of the tube size, its arrangement and the fin configuration. In here, a numerical study was carried to understand the effect of the fin configuration on the heat transfer and pressure drop of the heat exchanger. The diameter and the arrangement of tubes were fixed but three different types of the fin configuration were used to see its effect on the heat transfer capacity and the static pressure drop. The calculation results were compared with that of a flat plate fin. From the comparison, it was found that the slitted fins have higher pressure drop; however, they have higher heat transfer rate. It means that the simpler of the fin configuration, the lower pressure drop and heat transfer coefficients are obtained. It is mainly due to the discretisation of the thermal boundary layer on the fin surface to maximise the heat transfer to air. The slitted sides of fins act like obstacles in the airflow path. From the experimental result, it was found that the same trend in the variation of the heat transfer rate and the pressure drop with the change of the fin configuration was obtained.