18-Jul-19

15ME302 HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER

UNIT I: EXTENDED SURFACES (FINS)

Presented by
Dr. C. Selvam

Heat Transfer from Finned (extended)

Surfaces

• Newton’s law of cooling

Q conv  hAs Ts  T 

• Two ways to increase the rate of heat transfer:

– increasing the heat transfer coefficient,
– increasing the surface area fins

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The thin plate fins of a car radiator greatly increase the

rate of heat transfer to the air.

Types of fins

(a)Straight fin of rectangular profile on plane wall,

(b) straight fin of rectangular profile on circular tube,
(c) cylindrical tube with radial fin of rectangular profile,
(d) Circular-rod fin.

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Fin Equation

Volume element of a fin at

location x having a length
of x, cross-sectional area
of Ac, and perimeter of p.

Energy balance equation

Qx  Qx  x  Qconv Based on taylor series expansion

dT dT d  dT 
 kA  kA    kA x  hATb  T 
dx dx dx  dx 
dT dT d 2T
 kA  kA  kA 2 x  h px Tb  T 
dx dx dx
2
d T
 kA 2 x  h px Tb  T   0 A  2x  h   2b  x 
dx
d 2T  x  2h  b   px
h px Tb  T   kA 2 x
dx
2
d T hp
 Tb  T   d 2T 
dx 2 kA  m 2 (T  T  )  0
 2 
2
d T hp  d x 
2
 Tb  T   0
dx kA h p
m2 
d 2T kA
 m 2
T b  T   0 hp
dx 2 m 
kA

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1 Infinitely Long Fin

(Tfin tip = T)

The variation of temperature along the fin

The steady rate of heat transfer from the entire fin

2 Negligible Heat Loss from the Fin Tip (Short fin)

(Adiabatic fin tip, Qfin tip = 0), or fin with insulated end
Fins are not likely to be so long that their temperature approaches the surrounding
temperature at the tip. A more realistic assumption is for heat transfer from the fin
tip to be negligible since the surface area of the fin tip is usually a negligible
fraction of the total fin area.

The variation of temperature along the fin

Heat transfer from the entire fin

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3 Convection from Fin Tip (end is not insulated)

The fin tips, in practice, are exposed to the surroundings, and thus the proper
boundary condition for the fin tip is convection that may also include the effects
of radiation. Consider the case of convection only at the tip. The condition at the
fin tip can be obtained from an energy balance at the fin tip.

4 Specified Temperature (Tfin,tip = TL)

In this case the temperature at the end of the fin (the fin tip) is fixed at a specified
temperature TL.
This case could be considered as a generalization of the case of Infinitely Long Fin
where the fin tip temperature was fixed at T.

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Fin Efficiency
.
• To maximize the heat transfer from a fin the temperature
of the fin should be uniform (maximized) at the base
value of Tb
• In reality, the temperature drops along the fin, and thus
the heat transfer from the fin is less
• To account for the effect we define
a fin efficiency
Q Actual heat transfer rate from the fin
 fin   fin 
Q fin ,max Ideal heat transfer rate from the fin
if the entire fin were at base temperature

or
Q fin   fin Q fin ,max   fin hAfin (Tb  T )

Fin Effectiveness
• The performance of the fins is judged on the basis of the
enhancement in heat transfer relative to the no-fin case.
• The performance of fins is expressed
in terms of the fin effectiveness ɛfin
defined as Heat transfer rate
from the fin of base
Q fin Q fin area Ab
 fin    
Qno fin hAb Tb  T  Heat transfer
rate from the
surface of area
Ab

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The total rate of heat transfer from a finned surface

Overall effectiveness for a finned surface

The overall fin effectiveness depends on the fin density (number

of fins per unit length) as well as the effectiveness of the
individual fins.
The overall effectiveness is a better measure of the performance
of a finned surface than the effectiveness of the individual fins.
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• A long rod 12 mm square section made of low carbon steel

protrudes into air at 35°C from a furnace wall at 200°C. The
convective heat transfer coefficient is estimated to be
22W/m2K. The conductivity of the material is 51.9 W/mK.
Determine the location from the wall at which the
temperature will be 60°C. Also calculate the temperature at
80 mm from base.

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A long carbon steel rod of length 40 cm and diameter 10

mm (k = 40 W/mK) is placed in such that one of its end is
400oC and the ambient temperature is 30oC. The film co-
efficient is 10 W/m2K. Determine
(i) Temperature at the mid length of the fin.
(ii) Temperature at end of the fin
(iii) Fin efficiency
(iv) Heat transfer rate from the fin
Given
L = 40x10-2 m
d = 10 x 10-3 m
k = 40 W/mK
Tb = 400oC
T∞ = 30oC
h= 10 W/m2K

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Solution
It is a short fin end is insulated

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• A cylinder 1m long and 5cm diameter is placed in an

atmosphere at 45°C. It is provided with 10 longitudinal
straight fins of material having k =120 W/mK. The height
of 0.76 mm thick fins is 1.27cm from the cylinder
surface. The HTC b/w cylinder and atmospheric air is 17
W/m2K. Calculate the rate of heat transfer and
temperature at the end of fins if surface temperature of
cylinder is 150°C

3 Convection from Fin Tip (end is not insulated)

The fin tips, in practice, are exposed to the surroundings, and thus the proper
boundary condition for the fin tip is convection that may also include the effects of
radiation. Consider the case of convection only at the tip. The condition at the fin
tip can be obtained from an energy balance at the fin tip.

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The given configuration is short fin and end is not insulated

1. Width of the fin=1m = length of the cylinder
2. Lfin=1.27*10-2 m
3. k=120 W/mK
4. h=17 W/m2K

A fin  W  t  0.76  10 3 m 2 , P  2  W  2m
hp
m  19.31m 1
kA

45.7 W

Aunfin  Acylinder  10A fin 


 DL  10 1 0.76  10 3 
 
   0.05 1  10 0.76 10 3  0.1494m 2
Qunfin  hAunfin Tb  T   266W
Qtotal  Q fin  Qunfin  1045.7   266  723.82W

T=146°C

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Steps involved in the radial fin problem

1. Qno fin  hAno fin T 

2. Q fin  ?
Q fin
 fin 
Qideal or max
Q fin    Qideal or max
Qideal or max  hA fin T 
3. Qunfin  hAunfin T 
4. QTotal  Q fin  Qunfin
QTotal  N Q fin  Qunfin 

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26

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• An aluminium alloy fin of 7mm thick and 50mm

long protrudes from a wall, which is maintained
at 1200C. The ambient air temperature is 22oC.
The heat transfer coefficient and thermal
conductivity of the fin material are 140W/m2K
and 55 W/mK respectively. Determine
• Temperature at end of the fin h=140W/m2K
T∞=22oC
• Temperature at middle of the fin
L=50mm
• Total heat dissipated by the fin 0
120 C
k=55 W/mK

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• Length of the fin is 50mm, it is treated as short

fin
• Assume end is insulated
• Short fin end is insulated
T  T cosh m  L  x 

Tb  T  cosh( m L )
i) Temp at the end of the fin, x=L

T  T cosh m  L  L 

Tb  T  cosh( m L )
T  T 1

Tb  T  cosh( m L )

hp
m
kA
p  2* L  0.1m
A  L * t  0.050*0.007
A  3.5*104 m 2
m  26.96m 1

T  T 1

Tb  T  cosh( m L )
T  295 1

393  295 cosh(26.96 * 0.050)
T  342.8 K

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T  T cosh m  L  x 

Tb  T  cosh( m L )
ii) Temp at the middle of the fin, x=L/2
 L
cosh m  L  
T  T  2

Tb  T  cosh( m L )
 0.050 
cosh 26.9  0.050 
T  295  2 

393  295 cosh(26.9 * 0.050)
T  354.04 K

iii) Total heat dissipated

Q=44.4 W

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Thank you

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