Modeling of finned flat tube heat exchangers and search of Nusselt-Reynolds numbers correlations

Abstract

Using a wind tunnel, a series of model finned flat tube copper radiators was studied. All geometrical parameters of the studied radiators were fixed except for the height of the fin, which was varied in the range from 5 to 20 mm. It was found that the global water-air heat transfer coefficient weakly depends on the water flow rate and significantly depends on the air flow rate. Correlations between the Nusselt and Reynolds numbers for fins with different heights are found. Based on the obtained correlations, a procedure for scaling the heat exchanger, verified experimentally, is proposed. The experiments performed demonstrate the efficiency and time-saving potential of the proposed method for choosing the optimal finned flat tube heat exchanger for adsorption heat conversion systems.