Transversal tube pitch effects on local heat transfer characteristics of the flat tube bank fin mounted vortex generators and their sensitivity to nonuniform temperature of the fin

Abstract

The tube bank fin is commonly used to increase the area of the heat transfer surface with a small heat transfer coefficient of a heat exchanger. If vortex generators (VGs) are punched on the fin surface, the heat transfer performance of the fin can be improved. This paper focused on the effect of transversal tube pitch on the local heat transfer performance of the three-row flat tube bank fin mounted with VGs. On the fin surface, constructing the flow channel but without mounted VGs, the transversal tube pitch was greater, and the span averaged Nusselt number downstream was larger because fewer interactions of vortices would be generated from different VGs located upstream. When the area goodness factor was used as the criteria on the condition of one tube unit of heat exchanger for commonly used fin materials and fin thickness, the transversal tube pitch has considerable effect on the heat transfer enhancement of VGs. Large transversal tube pitch is more sensitive to fin material than to fin thickness.