Heat transfer from rotating finned heat exchangers with different orientation angles

Abstract

The local and average heat transfer characteristics of spoke like fins that extend outward from a rotating shaft have been determined experimentally. The experiments encompassed a number of geometrical parameters, including the length and chord of the fins, the number of fins deployed around the circumference of the shaft and the orientation angles of the fin. The experiments cover a wider range of rotational speeds, which varies from 25 up to 2,000 rpm. Three wire heat flux sensors have been used in conjunction with a slip ring apparatus to evaluate the local and average heat transfer coefficients. The output results indicated that, the heat transfer transition on rotating fins occurs at Reynolds number lower than encountered on the stationary rectangular fins in crossflow. In general, with non zero incidence angle, the rotating system acts as a fan and creates axial air motion, which enhance the heat transfer rate. However, the effect of orientation angle reduces with increasing the rotational speed. The Nusselt number data are independent of the number of fins in the circumferential array at high rotational speed and are weakly dependent at low Reynolds numbers. To facilitate the use of the results for design, correlations were developed which represent the fin heat transfer coefficient as a continuous function of the investigated independent parameters.