SFU

Ali Karimi 301097210 ENSC 388 Simon Fraser University School of

Engineering Science Mechatronic Systems Engineering

[RECTANGULAR FIN]
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Contents

Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Theory.........................................................................................................................................................3
Results and Discussion.................................................................................................................................5
Temperature Distribution along the Length of the Fin............................................................................5
Different Number of Fins.........................................................................................................................6
Heat Transfer Coefficient.........................................................................................................................7
Fin Thermal Conductivity.........................................................................................................................9
Fin Length..............................................................................................................................................10
Varying fin shape...................................................................................................................................11
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................11
Appendix...................................................................................................................................................12
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Introduction
In the study of heat transfer, a fin is a surface that extends from an object to increase the rate
of heat transfer to or from the environment by increasing convection. The amount
of conduction, convection, or radiation of an object determines the amount of heat it transfers.
Increasing the temperature difference between the object and the environment, increasing the
convection heat transfer coefficient, or increasing the surface area of the object increases the
heat transfer. Sometimes it is not economical or it is not feasible to change the first two
options. Adding a fin to an object, however, increases the surface area and can sometimes be
an economical solution to heat transfer problems.

Theory
In this project the heat conduction and dissipation in a rectangular fin that is used to cool down
an object is studied. The issue is each point along the length of the fin has different
temperature; where the objective of the first part is to determine the temperature distribution
along the fin. In reality every single point of the fin have a different temperature but to simplify
the problem we divide the fin into 10 sections and will calculate the temperature of each
section. The equation bellow gives the conduction resistance:

∆x
R 1=
k × Ac

Where ∆ x = the total length divided by the number of elements

K= material property
Ac = element cross section
Following results in the convection resistance:

1
R 1=
h × As

Whereh= heat transfer coefficient and A s= element surface area exposed to air
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We can come up with a thermal resistor network across the fin by using the conduction and
convection resistance. As it mentioned before we have a uniform resistor network across the
whole fin except at the base and the tip. At the tip:

1
Rtip =
h× Ac

At the base, the first element does not have 2 adjacent elements next to it. Having the above
information we can identify a thermal resistive network for all three kinds of elements at the
fin.

The heat flow rate between any two points in above networks can be calculated from:

T i−T f
= Heat flow rate
R

Where Ti is initial temperature

Tf is the final temperature

R is resistance
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Using conservation of energy and electric resistors law we have:

T i −T a 1
T i=−R1 ( + ) +T i−1
R2 R1

Where Ta is the ambient temperature

Treating the heat flow rate as current passing through an electric circuit we would have:

T i−T a 1
Q̇i=( + )
R2 R1

The whole system is defined using above equations except we are missing the initial
temperatures. With an initial guess and using iteration method we can solve for variable until
we get approximately fix value. Having the temperature of the elements we can calculate the
efficiency from:

actual heat transfer Q̇

η= =
maximumheat transfer when the entire finis at Tb hAs (T b −T ∞)

Results and Discussion

Temperature Distribution along the Length of the Fin

Using the electrical analogy and energy balance for the fins we can find the general solution:

Table 1: temperature and heat transfer for each position

X* T*=Tfinal/Tbase Q*=Qfinal/Qbase X* T*=Tfinal/Tbase Q*=Qfinal/Qbase

0.05 0.99041 0.1082 0.75 0.94877 0.093065
0.15 0.98142 0.10493 0.85 0.9467 0.092312
0.25 0.97348 0.10204 0.95 0.94556 0.11279
0.35 0.96657 0.099531
0.45 0.96066 0.097385
0.55 0.95574 0.095596
0.65 0.95178 0.094158
Having the above data we can draw the following graphs:
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Figure 2: Heat transfer rate vs. position

Figure 1: Temperature vs. position
As we can see in figure 1 as the position increases the temperature decreases which is what we
were expecting. So the base has the highest temperature and the tip has the lowest
temperature. The second graph shows the heat flow rate for each element along the fin; there
is the exact same relationship between the position and the flow rate as position and
temperature but the last 2 points. As it seen on the graph there is a sharp rise from the second
last point to the last point which shows the tip of the fin where the surface area of the tip
exposed to air (this increases the flow rate). The sharp edge is not realistic; it is sharp because
we have only 10 points in the fin where if we had more points we would get a smooth edge.

Different Number of Fins

Varying the number of fins might change the temperature of the certain points; to figure out
the issue we have to draw the graph of dimensionless temperature over the dimensionless
position for different number of fin cases.

Figure 3: Temperature vs. Position for Various Numbers of Fins

The above graph shows that there`s not much of temperature change in certain positions for
different number of fins system.
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Another case is heat flow rate over position for various numbers of fins:

Figure 4: Heat Flow Rate vs. Position for Various Numbers of Fins

The above graph indicates how the heat flow rate changes with changing the number of fins
where as the number of fins increases the heat flow rate decreases which is exactly what it was
expected; more pieces in a fin means smaller pieces which results in less surface area for heat
transfer.

Graph below signifies the efficiency over number of fins, where as it is obvious increasing the
number of fins results in higher efficiency up to a certain point; beyond that point there is no
increase in efficiency and it is expected that efficiency drops beyond some number of fins which
is not indicated in the graph.

Figure 5: Efficiency vs. Number of Fins

Heat Transfer Coefficient

In this section the effect of heat transfer change over the temperature, heat flow rate and
efficiency will be discussed.
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For small value of heat transfer coefficient, H, like 0.1 to 1 the temperature is almost uniform.
The following graph shows the effect of different heat values over temperature:

Figure 6: Temperature vs. position for Various Heat Transfer Coefficients

The heat transfer decreases with increasing H because H is inversely proportional to the heat
transfer rate.

Figure 7: Heat Transfer vs. Position for Various Heat Transfer Coefficients

Increasing the heat transfer coefficient results in lower efficiency because they have inverse
relationship.

Figure 8: Efficiency vs. Heat transfer

Coefficient
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Fin Thermal Conductivity

In this part we will discuss the relationship of fin thermal conductivity with temperature, heat
flow rate, and efficiency. Changing the thermal conductivity, k, from 2 to 1000 resulted in the
following graph of temperature vs. Position:

Figure 9: Temperature vs. Position for Various Ks

The following graph shows the stability point of heat transfer for different values of k:

Figure 10: Heat Transfer rate vs. Position for Various Ks

The upcoming graph shows that higher thermal conductivity results in higher efficiency which is
what it was expected.

Figure 11: Efficiency vs. Thermal Conductivity

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Fin Length
In this section we change the length of the fin from 0.01 to 1 and analyse the effect of the
change. The following graph indicates that temperature at each point along the fin goes to
almost unity as the length is increased. Which means if the fin is very short the fin`s
temperature will be almost same as the base temperature. The longer fin results in more
difference between the temperature at each point of the fin.

Figure 12: Temperature vs. Position for Various Fin Lengths

As it is obvious the heat transfer rate should be higher close to base where temperature is
higher in lengthier fins, where in the short fins the heat transfer rate is almost uniform along
the length of the fin because the tip of the fin is so close to the base. We can see this in the
following graph:

Figure 13: Heat Transfer Rate vs. Position

Same as heat transfer rate, the smaller fins result in higher efficiencies where as we see in the
following graph we have efficiency of almost 100% for the lengths less than 0.2 and as we
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increase the length the efficiency decreases but this doesn’t mean that we have to use the
short fins although their efficiency is so high they don’t operate like an actual fin.

Figure 14: Efficiency vs. Fin Length

Varying fin shape

Analysing the three shapes, the one with the highest efficiency is picked which is parabolic
shape with efficiency about 0.4574. There was no difference between the rectangular and
triangular fin shapes as both of them had an efficiency of 0.4499 which should because of an
error.

Figure 15: Dimensionless Temperature vs Position Figure 16: Dimensionless Heat Flow Rate vs Position

Conclusion
In this fin design analysis we found that there are several parameters that affect the
temperature, heat flow rate, and efficiency of a fin. Some of the parameters` effects are listed
below that we have to consider while designing a fin:

 Higher heat transfer coefficient results in lower efficiency

 Higher thermal conductivity results in higher efficiency
 Short fin is so efficient but it is not practical in real life
 Higher Contact resistance results in lower efficiency
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Appendix

Temperature x* Q* Temperature X* Q*
for 3 fins for 50 fins
0.97876 0.166667 0.34849 0.99054 0.05 0.021638
0.95697 0.5 0.32195 0.98865 0.07 0.021501
0.94595 0.8333333 0.32956 0.98681 0.09 0.021367
Temperature x* Q* 0.98501 0.11 0.021236
for 5 fins
0.98539 0.1 0.2131 0.98325 0.13 0.021108
0.96954 0.3 0.20156 0.98154 0.15 0.020984
0.95775 0.5 0.19297 0.97986 0.17 0.020862
0.94984 0.7 0.18722 0.97823 0.19 0.020744
0.94571 0.9 0.20514 0.97665 0.21 0.020628
Temperature x* Q* 0.9751 0.23 0.020516
for 10
0.99041 0.05 0.1082 0.97359 0.25 0.020406
0.98142 0.15 0.10493 0.97213 0.27 0.0203
0.97348 0.25 0.10204 0.97071 0.29 0.020197
0.96657 0.35 0.099531 0.96932 0.31 0.020096
0.96066 0.45 0.097385 0.96798 0.33 0.019999
0.95574 0.55 0.095596 0.96668 0.35 0.019904
0.95178 0.65 0.094158 0.96542 0.37 0.019813
0.94877 0.75 0.093064 0.9642 0.39 0.019724
0.9467 0.85 0.092312 0.96301 0.41 0.019638
0.94556 0.95 0.11278 0.96187 0.43 0.019555
Temperature X* Q* 0.96077 0.45 0.019475
for 20 fins
0.99293 0.025 0.054534 0.95971 0.47 0.019398
0.98816 0.075 0.053667 0.95868 0.49 0.019323
0.98366 0.125 0.05285 0.9577 0.51 0.019252
0.97943 0.175 0.052081 0.95675 0.53 0.019183
0.97546 0.225 0.051359 0.95584 0.55 0.019117
0.97174 0.275 0.050685 0.95497 0.57 0.019054
0.96829 0.325 0.050057 0.95414 0.59 0.018994
0.96508 0.375 0.049476 0.95335 0.61 0.018936
0.96213 0.425 0.048939 0.9526 0.63 0.018881
0.95942 0.475 0.048447 0.95188 0.65 0.018829
0.95696 0.525 0.048 0.9512 0.67 0.01878
0.95474 0.575 0.047597 0.95056 0.69 0.018734
0.95276 0.625 0.047237 0.94641 0.875 0.046084
0.95102 0.675 0.046921 0.94996 0.71 0.01869
0.94951 0.725 0.046648 0.9494 0.73 0.018649
0.94824 0.775 0.046417 0.94887 0.75 0.018611
0.94721 0.825 0.046229 0.94838 0.77 0.018575
0.94584 0.925 0.04598 0.94793 0.79 0.018542
0.9455 0.975 0.066791 0.94752 0.81 0.018512
Temperature X* Q* 0.94714 0.83 0.018485
for 50 fins
0.99445 0.01 0.021921 0.9468 0.85 0.01846
0.99247 0.03 0.021778 0.9465 0.87 0.018438
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Temperature X* Q*
for 50
0.94623 0.89 0.018419
0.94601 0.91 0.018403
0.94582 0.93 0.018389
0.94566 0.95 0.018378

Changing heat transfer coefficient

T* Q* T* Q* T* Q* T* Q* T* Q* x*
h=.1 h=1 h=10 h=100 h=2500
0.9998 0.0978 0.9989 0.0988 0.9904 0.1082 0.9506 0.1818 0.8184 0.6031 0.05
0.9997 0.0978 0.9979 0.0985 0.9814 0.1049 0.9080 0.1518 0.7425 0.2393 0.15
0.9996 0.0978 0.9969 0.0982 0.9734 0.1020 0.8734 0.1274 0.7124 0.0949 0.25
0.9996 0.0977 0.9961 0.0979 0.9665 0.0995 0.8454 0.1077 0.7005 0.0376 0.35
0.9995 0.0977 0.9955 0.0977 0.9606 0.0973 0.8229 0.0918 0.6957 0.0149 0.45
0.9994 0.0977 0.9949 0.0975 0.9557 0.0955 0.8053 0.0794 0.6939 0.0059 0.55
0.9994 0.0977 0.9944 0.0974 0.9517 0.0941 0.7918 0.0699 0.6931 0.0023 0.65
0.9994 0.0977 0.9940 0.0972 0.9487 0.0930 0.7819 0.0629 0.6928 0.0009 0.75
0.9993 0.0977 0.9938 0.0972 0.9467 0.0923 0.7753 0.0583 0.6927 0.0003 0.85
0.9993 0.1199 0.9937 0.1192 0.9455 0.1127 0.7718 0.0684 0.6927 0.0002 0.95

Changing the fin thermal conductivity

T* Q* T* Q* T* Q* T* Q* T* Q* T* Q* X*
k=2 k=2 k=20 k=20 k=80 k=80 k=125 k=125 k=220 k=220 k=100 k=100
0 0
0.929 0.3718 0.976 0.152 0.988 0.113 0.990 0.107 0.992 0.103 0.9943 0.0990 0.0
0 4 5 8 5 1 5 7 3 5 5
0.841 0.2336 0.941 0.134 0.975 0.108 0.981 0.104 0.987 0.101 0.9931 0.0986 0.1
1 4 8 1 7 3 9 6 1 7 5
0.786 0.1468 0.912 0.118 0.964 0.104 0.974 0.101 0.982 0.100 0.9920 0.0983 0.2
0 5 7 4 5 0 2 8 5 1 5
0.751 0.0923 0.888 0.105 0.954 0.100 0.967 0.099 0.978 0.098 0.9910 0.0980 0.3
3 6 4 4 8 3 5 4 5 7 5
0.729 0.0581 0.868 0.094 0.946 0.097 0.961 0.097 0.975 0.097 0.9902 0.0977 0.4
6 9 4 6 6 1 8 4 0 5 5
0.716 0.0368 0.852 0.085 0.939 0.094 0.957 0.095 0.972 0.096 0.9895 0.0975 0.5
0 2 3 9 7 5 1 6 1 5 5
0.707 0.0235 0.839 0.079 0.934 0.092 0.953 0.094 0.969 0.095 0.9890 0.0973 0.6
6 6 7 1 2 4 2 2 8 7 5
0.702 0.0154 0.830 0.074 0.930 0.090 0.950 0.093 0.968 0.095 0.9886 0.0971 0.7
5 8 3 1 0 8 3 2 0 1 5
0.699 0.0108 0.824 0.070 0.927 0.089 0.948 0.092 0.966 0.094 0.9883 0.0970 0.8
5 0 0 7 2 7 3 5 8 7 5
0.698 0.0104 0.820 0.084 0.925 0.109 0.947 0.113 0.966 0.115 0.9881 0.1191 0.9
0 4 5 5 6 4 2 0 2 9 5
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Changing fin length

T* Q* T* Q* T* Q* T* Q* T* Q* X*
l=.01 l=.01 l=.05 l=.05 l=.1 l=.1 l=.5 l=.5 l=1 l=1
0.9993 0.08161 0.9960 0.09838 0.9904 0.1082 0.9473 0.26181 0.9054 0.44935 0.05
1 8
0.9998 0.08157 0.9934 0.09755 0.9814 0.10493 0.8815 0.19415 0.8098 0.24744 0.15
2 5 1
0.9990 0.08154 0.9912 0.09681 0.9734 0.10204 0.8330 0.14428 0.7571 0.13627 0.25
8 3 8
0.9989 0.08152 0.9892 0.09616 0.9665 0.09953 0.7973 0.10763 0.7282 0.07506 0.35
7 8 1
0.9988 0.08149 0.9874 0.09560 0.9606 0.09738 0.7713 0.08085 0.7122 0.041372 0.45
6 3 6
0.9987 0.08147 0.9860 0.09513 0.9557 0.09559 0.7524 0.06148 0.7034 0.022853 0.55
4 9 9
0.9987 0.08145 0.9848 0.09475 0.9517 0.09415 0.7391 0.04775 0.6986 0.012715 0.65
8 3 9
0.9986 0.08143 0.9839 0.09445 0.9487 0.09306 0.7300 0.03840 0.6961 0.007238 0.75
7 3
0.9986 0.08142 0.9832 0.09424 0.9467 0.09231 0.7243 0.03256 0.6947 0.004415 0.85
6 6
0.9985 0.2664 0.9828 0.13689 0.9455 0.11278 0.7215 0.03107 0.6941 0.003284 0.95
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Efficiencies

Efficiency Number of Fins Efficiency h Efficiency Rc Efficiency L Efficiency k

0.8904 3 1.0212 0.1 0.90884 0 0.996164 0.01 0.20683 2
0.89392 5 1.0081 1 0.90793 0.01 0.95975 0.05 0.60438 20
0.89541 10 0.89541 10 0.89984 0.1 0.87551 0.1 0.8504 80
0.89578 20 0.46144 100 0.82624 1 0.315126 0.5 0.89926 125
0.89587 50 0.067844 2500 0.60595 5 0.15369 1 0.94175 220
0.99078 1000
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