The Influence of Strip Location on the Pressure Drop and Heat Transfer Performance of a Slotted Fin

Abstract

In this article, a numerical study is conducted to predict the air-side heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of slit fin-and-tube heat transfer surfaces. A three-dimensional steady laminar model is applied, and the heat conduction in the fins is also considered. Five types of slit fins, named slit 1, slit 2, slit 3, slit 4, and slit 5, are investigated, which have the same global geometry dimensions and the same numbers of strips on the fin surfaces. The only difference among the five slit fins lies in the strip arrangement. Slit 1 has all the strips located in the front part of the fin surface, then, following the order from slit 1 to slit 5, the strip number in the front part decreases and, correspondingly, the strip number in the rear part increases, so that all the strips of slit 5 are located in the rear part. Furthermore, slit 1 and slit 5, slit 2 and slit 4, have a symmetrical strip arrangement along the flow direction. The numerical results show that, following the order from slit 1 and slit 5, the heat transfer rate increases at first, reaching a maximum value at slit 3, which has the strip arrangement of “front coarse and rear dense”; after that, it begins to decrease, as does the fin efficiency. Although they have the symmetrical strip arrangement along the flow direction, slit 5 has 7% more Nusselt number than slit 1, and slit 4 also has 7% more Nusselt number than slit 2, which shows that strip arrangement in the rear part is more effective than that in the front part. Then the difference of heat transfer performance among five slit fins is analyzed from the viewpoint of thermal resistance, which shows that when the thermal resistances in the front and rear parts are nearly identical, the optimum enhanced heat transfer fin can be obtained. This quantitative rule, in conjunction with the previously published qualitative principle of “front sparse and rear dense,” can give both quantitative and qualitative guides to the design of efficient slotted fin surfaces. Finally, the influence of fin material on the performance of enhanced-heat-transfer fins is discussed.