Heat Transfer and Flow Friction Characteristics of Rectangular Plain Fin Heat Exchanger

Abstract

Fin is an external surface attached to a large structure. A plate-fin heat exchanger is a type of heat exchanger design that uses plates and finned chambers to transfer heat between fluids. It is often categorized as a compact heat exchanger to emphasize its relatively high heat transfer surface area to volume ratio. The main objective of the fin is to increase the heat transfer by increasing surface area and fin thickness. In case of forced convection also heat transfer increases in a higher rate due to the influence of external agent (A ceiling fan, a pump, suction device etc.), but fin is effective one. The plate-fin heat exchanger is widely used in many industries, including the aerospace industry for its compact size and lightweight properties. Most of the gases have low heat transfer properties. Due to this low heat transfer capacity gases are used very carefully. But it has many advantages as it should be use as a working fluid so that to overcome these difficulties the secondary surfaces should be created that may be off-set fins or, triangular fins or wavy fins or louvered fins etc. by this secondary surfaces the temperature gradient at the surface has been increased, which leads to the augmentation in heat transfer. This is the study of rectangular plain fin heat exchanger surfaces for enhancing heat transfer. In case of material, mostly aluminum is used but for high temperature and high pressure applications stainless steel should be used.

In this design I have taken some data assumption and design a plain fin to get required results. In this plain fin heat exchanger the flowing fluid is water. Material used for this heat exchanger is Al. The main aim is to find the heat transfer and flow friction characteristics of rectangular plain fin which can understand in terms of Colburn factor j and Friction factor f.