EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ON THE EFFECT OF FIN PITCH ON THE PERFORMANCE OF PLATE TYPE FIN

Abstract

Heat transfer enhancement devices are widely used in various industrial, transportation, or domestic applications such as thermal power plants, means of transport, heating and air conditioning systems, electronic equipments and space vehicles. In all these applications, improvements in the efficiency of heat exchangers can lead to substantial cost, space and materials savings. The research work summarized in this paper presents an experimental investigation on the effect of fin pitch on the fin performance using plate type fins. The experiments were carried out in the laboratory using a test rig having provisions for attaching plate type fins to a flat base plate. The experiments were conducted for different fin pitch settings. Three plate type fins were used in this study. Three fin pitch settings 1cm, 2cm, 3cm were employed under free and forced heat transfer conditions. The heat transfer area was kept the same. The fin performance parameters heat transfer coefficient, base temperature and temperature profile along the length of the fin were studied and compared for different cases. Experimental results show that the effect of fin pitch on fin performance is significant. The effect is more pronounced at higher air flow velocities over the fin surface. The maximum increase in convection heat transfer coefficient value obtained is about 20 percent. The increase in heat transfer coefficient value is also manifested by a corresponding decrease in the fin base temperature.