Experimental Study of Fin Effectiveness and Local Convection Coefficients for Different Fin Forms

Abstract

*† ‡ § ** In this paper an experimental study of different types of longitudinal fins is presented. Unlike the current tendency to use thermal fin efficiency, fin effectiveness is used in this study. Fin effectiveness has the advantage of measuring the heat transfer gain by placement of the fin. With this gain, the performance and usefulness of a fin can be indicated. This is less obvious with the concept fin efficiency. Thus fin effectiveness can be used as a parameter to compare different types of fins. Also the local convection coefficient along the fin has to be determined for different Re-numbers. In this paper, the experimental setup, measurement techniques and methodology are described. Infrared thermography is used to measure fin surface temperatures and the temperature distribution on the fin.