Dr.

Safaa Hameed Faisal Heat Transfer Lecture

Chapter-3-
Heat Transfer from Extended Surfaces (Fins)
1- Introduction
Convection heat transfer between a surface at Ts and the fluid surrounding it at T is given by:
Q  hA(Ts  T )
There are three ways to increase heat transfer rate:
1. Increase h by increasing the fluid velocity. However, increasing h needs blower or pump, which
needs maintenance and initial costs.
2. Reduce T is often impractical (related to ambient condition).
3. Increase Ts , which is also impractical, and some time leads to mechanical or electrical failure.
4- The heat transfer rate may be increased by increasing the surface area A across which convection
occurs. This may be done by using fins that extend from the wall into the surrounding fluid .

There are different fin configurations as shown in figure below.

Some common application of fins in our daily life:

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 Dr.Safaa Hameed Faisal Heat Transfer Lecture
2- General Conduction Analysis
To determine the heat transfer rate associated with a fin, we must first obtain the temperature
distribution along the fin. Consider the extended surface shown below. Heat is transferred from the base
by conduction, and removed from the extended surface by convection.

The analysis of the extended surface is simplified by the following assumptions:

 1-D conduction (because the temperature changes in the y, z directions are small)
 Steady-state conditions
 Thermal conductivity is constant
 Radiation from the surface is negligible
 Heat transfer coefficient h is uniform over the surface.
Conservation of energy requirement on the control volume gives:
q x  q x  dx  dq conv
From Fourier’s law we know that:
dT
q x  kAc
dx
where Ac is the cross-sectional area, which may vary with x. Since the conduction heat rate at x + dx
may be expressed as:
dq x
q x dx  q x  dx
dx
The convection heat transfer rate may be expressed as:
dqconv  hdAs (T  T )
where dAs is the surface area of the differential element. Substituting the foregoing rate equations into the
energy balance equation, we obtain:

d 2T  1 d Ac  d T  1 h d As 
      T  T   0
d x2 A dx dx A k dx 
 c   c 
Where Ac is the cross-sectional area and dAs is the surface area of the differential element.

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 Dr.Safaa Hameed Faisal Heat Transfer Lecture
3- Fins of Uniform Cross-Sectional Area:
Consider the straight rectangular and pin fins of uniform cross-section shown below.

Or To
Or To

For those fins, Ac is a constant and As = Px, where As is the surface area measured from the base and P is
dAc dAs
the fin perimeter. Therefore: 0 and P
dx dx
Substitute the above equation in the fin differential equation:
d 2T
2

hP
T  T   0
dx k Ac
To simplify the form of the equation, let us define a new variable θ as  ( x )  T ( x )  T
So the new differential equation will be:
d 2 hP
2
 m 2  0 where m2 
dx k Ac
nd
The fin differential equation is a linear, homogenous, 2 - order differential equation with constant
coefficients. Its general solution is of the form:
  x   C 1 e m x  C 2 e m x
Two boundary conditions are needed to evaluate the constants C1 and C2 .
 The first boundary condition is that of the temperature at the base of the fin (x = 0), i.e.
 (0)  Tb  T   b

Note: Some times the base temperature is denoted: To or Tb and b  o

The second boundary condition is specified at the fin tip (x = L). Four different possible cases at the tip
are considered.

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Dr.Safaa Hameed Faisal Heat Transfer Lecture
 Case A: very long fin.
 Case B: adiabatic fin tip
 Case C: prescribed temperature at the fin tip
 Case D: convection heat transfer from the fin tip
The heat transfer rate is obtained by applying either the Fourier's law at the fin base:
dT d
q f  qb   kAc   kAc
dx x  0 dx x  0

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 Dr.Safaa Hameed Faisal Heat Transfer Lecture
4- Fin Performance:
Fin Effectiveness (f )
The fin effectiveness f is defined as the ratio of the fin heat transfer rate to the heat transfer rate that
would exist without the fin:
qf
 
h A c, b  b
f

Where Ac, b is the fin cross-sectional area at the base.

The qf is the heat transfer rate through the fin.
For example, for infinitely long fin of uniform cross-section (case D), the fin effectiveness is

h P k Ac  b
12
 kP 
    
f
h A c, b  b hA 
 c 
So the fin effectiveness is enhanced by the following factors:
 High thermal conductivity of fin material.
 High ratio of perimeter to cross-sectional area.
 Also, the use of fins is better justified in cases in which h is small, e.g. in free convection.

In general, the use of fin is recommended only when f  2.

Fin Efficiency  f :

The fin efficiency f is defined as the ratio between the actual fin heat transfer to the maximum fin
heat transfer that occurs if all the fin at the base temperature :
qf qf
f  
q max h A f b

Where Af is the surface area of the fin and qmax is the heat transfer rate if the entire fin surface were at
the base temperature. For example, for a straight fin of uniform cross-section and an adiabatic tip, the fin
efficiency is:
M tanh mL tanh mL
  
h P L b
f
mL
Note
1- Due to the complexity expression for heat transfer from a straight fin with an active tip (case D of
Table 3.4), approximate prediction may be obtained by using the adiabatic tip result (case B of Table 3.4)
with a corrected fin length of the form:
Lc = L + (t/2) for a rectangular fin
Lc = L + (D/4) for a pin fin
Hence, for fin with convection at the tip, the heat transfer rate and efficiency may be approximated as
q f  M tanh m Lc

tanh mL c
 f 
m Lc

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 Dr.Safaa Hameed Faisal Heat Transfer Lecture
5- Fins of Non-uniform Cross-Sectional Area:
Analysis of fin thermal behavior becomes more complex if the fin is of non-uniform cross-section.
The efficiencies of various fin configurations are presented in figures. Once the efficiency is determined,
qf
the heat transfer rate can be calculated from :  f 
h A f b

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 Dr.Safaa Hameed Faisal Heat Transfer Lecture
6- Worked examples:
Example-1-
An aluminum rod (k=204W/m.K) is of 2.0 cm in diameter and 12 cm long fixed on
a wall that is maintained at 250◦C. The rod is exposed to an environment at 15◦C.
The convection heat-transfer coefficient is 12 W/m2 ・ ◦C. Calculate the heat lost by
the rod neglecting the heat transfer from the rod tip.
Solution:

Example-2-
A square cross section area (50 mm*50 mm) iron bar 0.4 m long is connected to two walls of, each
at 120°C. The ambient air temperature is 35°C and the convective heat transfer coefficient is 17.4
W/m2 K. Calculate the rate of heat loss from the bar and the temperature of the bar midway. The
thermal conductivity of iron is 52 W/mK.
Solution:
Because of symmetry, we would consider ha1f length of the bar.
P=2(a +b) =2(50 +50) =200mm =0.2 m
Ac = 50 mm x 50 mm = 2500 mm2
= 25*10-4 m2

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 Dr.Safaa Hameed Faisal Heat Transfer Lecture
Example-3-
Steam in a heating system flows through tube of outer diameter D1= 3 cm and whose wall is
maintained at a temperature of 120°C. Circular aluminum fins (k =180 W/m · °C) of outer
diameter D2= 6 cm and constant thickness t= 2 mm are attached to the tube, as shown in Fig. below.
The space between the fins is 3 mm, and thus there are 200 fins per meter length of the tube. Heat is
transferred to the surrounding air at T =25°C, with a heat transfer coefficient of h = 60 W/m2 · °C.
Determine the increase in heat transfer from the tube per meter of its length as a result of adding
fins. Take fin efficiency as 95%.
Solution:
In the case of no fins, heat transfer from the tube per meter of its length is determined from Newton’s
law of cooling to be:

The efficiency of the circular fins is 95%, then:

Where:

Heat transfer from the unfinned portion of the tube is:

Noting that there are 200 fins and thus 200 inter fin spacing per meter length of the tube, the total heat
transfer from the finned tube becomes:

Therefore, the increase in heat transfer from the tube per meter of its length as a result of the addition of
fins is:

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 Dr.Safaa Hameed Faisal Heat Transfer Lecture
Example-4-
To determine the thermal conductivity of a long, solid 2.5 cm diameter rod, one half of the rod
was inserted into a furnace while the other half was projecting into air at 27°C. After steady state
had been reached, the temperatures at two points 7.6 cm apart were measured and found to be
126°C and 91°C, respectively. The heat transfer coefficient over the surface of the rod exposed to
the air was estimated to be 22.7 W/m2 K. What is the thermal conductivity of the rod? Assume the
rod is infinitely long.

Solution: The fin is of uniform cross section, . The temperature distribution for a fin of infinite length is:

Substituting this into the temperature distribution and solving for k:

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 Dr.Safaa Hameed Faisal Heat Transfer Lecture
Example-5- A thin electronic device in the form of disc 20mm diameter is to be cooled up and
down by air. In the upper surface there are set of five cylindrical fins of 4mm diameter. Consider
the information shown in figure below:
1- Determine the total heat dissipated by the device up and down.
2- Determine the fin efficiency.
The heat transfer from the fin tip can be neglected.

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