The influence of tip clearance and shape of pin fins on the heat transfer performance and friction factor in aluminum silicon alloy heat exchanger

Abstract

In this article, the coupled heat transfer model was applied to investigate the effect of the tip clearance and shape of pin fins on the heat transfer performance and friction factor in the high temperature region of aluminum silicon alloy heat exchanger. The tip clearance ranged from 1 mm to 8 mm, and the shape of pin fins was the circular, drop-A and drop-B. The results showed that as the tip clearance increases, the outlet flue gas temperature increases, while the Nusselt number, the pressure loss and the friction factor decreases. For the circular pin fin, the difference of outlet flue gas temperature between it and drop-A was very slight, but both were higher than drop-B. In addition, circular pin fin had the minimum values of pressure loss friction factor. Comprehensively considering the heat transfer performance and friction factor, the thermo-hydraulic performance of circular pin fin with the tip clearance of 4 mm was superior to other cases.