Study of the performance of multiple v-type fin arrangements as an enhancement of natural heat transfer from a vertical surface

Abstract

Thermal influence on home appliances, devices and other engineering systems is so high that it causes a system failure. The dominant mode of heat transfer through these systems is the natural heat transfer. As the value of heat transfer coefficient is low, an extension in the heat transfer area becomes essential. The extension is merely to add fins with different shapes and configurations depends on the geometry of systems and space available. One of these configurations is the V type fin array. A testbed was built using two different configurations of fin array. The first array looks like the letter “V” with two discrete parts and the other array is the upset of the letter “V”. The array consists of two columns and five rows separated by a certain distance. The variable heat fluxes were achieved by changing the voltage of three heating elements fixed to the backside of the testbed. Seven thermocouples were fixed at different positions on the testbed and the experiment was run to calculate the natural heat convection through the testbed. The configuration with upset V shape fin shows better performance because it allows the air to flow faster through the middle passage separating the fin array.