An Exact Solution to Steady Heat Conduction in a Two-Dimensional Annulus on a One-Dimensional Fin: Application to Frosted Heat Exchangers With Round Tubes

Abstract

The fin efficiency of a high-thermal-conductivity substrate coated with a low-thermal-conductivity layer is considered, and an analytical solution is presented and compared to alternative approaches for calculating fin efficiency. This model is appropriate for frost formation on a round-tube-and-fin metallic heat exchanger, and the problem can be cast as conduction in a composite two-dimensional circular cylinder on a one-dimensional radial fin. The analytical solution gives rise to an eigenvalue problem with an unusual orthogonality condition. A one-term approximation to this new analytical solution provides fin efficiency calculations of engineering accuracy for a range of conditions, including most frosted-coated metal fins. The series solution and the one-term approximation are of sufficient generality to be useful for other cases of a low-thermal-conductivity coating on a high-thermal-conductivity substrate.