You are on page 1of 20

Heat transfer from Extended Surface- Fins

The rate of heat transfer from a surface at a temperature Ts to the surrounding medium at T is
given by Newton’s law of cooling as

There are two ways to increase the rate of heat transfer:


1. to increase the convection heat transfer coefficient h –
Increasing h may require the installation of a pump or fan, or replacing the existing one with a
larger one, but this approach may or may not be practical.

2. to increase the surface area As


to increase the surface area by attaching to the surface extended surfaces called fins made of
highly conductive materials such as aluminum.
Finned surfaces are manufactured by extruding, welding, or wrapping a thin metal sheet on a
1
surface.
• Fins enhance heat transfer from a surface by exposing a larger surface area to convection
and radiation.

• Finned surfaces are commonly used in practice to enhance heat transfer, and they often
increase the rate of heat transfer from a surface several fold.

• The car radiator shown in Fig. is an example of a finned surface. The closely packed thin
metal sheets attached to the hot water tubes increase the surface area for convection and
thus the rate of convection heat transfer from the tubes to the air many times.

2
Different type of finned surfaces:

3
Different type of finned surfaces:

4
Schematic Diagrams of Different Types of Fins: (a) Longitudinal Fin of Rectangular
Profile; (b) Cylindrical Tube with Fins of Rectangular Profile; (c) Longitudinal Fin
of Trapezoidal Profile;(d) Longitudinal Fin of Parabolic Profile; (e) Cylindrical
Tube with Radial Fin of Rectangular Profile;(f) Cylindrical Tube with Radial Fin of
Truncated Conical Profile; (g) Cylindrical Pin Fin; (h) Truncated Conical Spine; (i)
5
Parabolic Spine.
Applications of finned surfaces

1. Radiators of automobiles;
2. Air-cooled engine cylinder heads;
3. Cooling coils and condenser coils in refrigerators and air
conditioners;
4. Small capacity air compressors;
5. Electric motor bodies;
6. Transformers and electronic equipments;
7. Economizers for steam power plants;
8. Convectors for steam and hot water heating systems;

6
Analysis of fins:

In order to calculate the heat flow first to obtain expression for


temperature variation along the fin. This will lead to the calculation of
temperature gradient at the base and heat flow.
Assumptions in the fin analysis:
➢ we consider steady operation with no heat generation in the fin.

➢ The thermal conductivity k of the material to remain constant.

➢ We also assume the convection heat transfer coefficient h to be


constant and uniform over the entire surface of the fin for
convenience in the analysis.
7
Heat transfer from Extended
Surface:
The convection heat transfer coefficient h, in general, varies
along the fin as well as its circumference, and its value at a point
is a strong function of the fluid motion at that point.
The value of h is usually much lower at the fin base than it is at
the fin tip because the fluid is surrounded by solid surfaces near
the base, which seriously disrupt its motion to the point of
“suffocating” it.
while the fluid near the fin tip has little contact with a solid
surface and thus encounters little resistance to flow. Therefore,
adding too many fins on a surface may actually decrease the
overall heat transfer when the decrease in h offsets any gain
resulting from the increase in the surface area.
8
Heat flow through rectangular fin:
Consider a rectangular fin protruding from a wall surface as shown in
fig.

To

9
Heat flow through rectangular fin:
Let,
L = Length of fin (Perpendicular to surface from which heat is to be removed)
b = Width of the fin (Parallel to the surface from which heat is to be removed)
t = Thickness of the fin.
p = Perimeter of the fin [2(b+t)].
Acs = Area of cross – section (bt).
Ta = Temperature of the ambient or surrounding fluid.
To= Temperature at the base of the fin.
k = Thermal conductivity (Constant) and
h = Convective heat transfer coefficient.

10
Heat flow through rectangular fin:
Consider the heat flow to and from an element dx thick at a distance x from the
base.

Heat conducted into the element at plane x

Heat conducted out of the element at plane x+dx

Heat convected out of the element between the planes x and (x+dx)

11
Heat flow through rectangular fin:
Applying an energy balance on the element, we can write

(1)

Making a Taylor’s expansion of the temperature gradient at (x+dx) in


terms of that at x, we get

12
Heat flow through rectangular fin:
Substituting in equation 1, we have

(2)

13
Heat flow through rectangular fin:
Equation (2) is further simplified by transforming the dependent
variable by defining the temperature excess  as,

(3)

14
Heat flow through rectangular fin:
Equations (2) and (3) represent a general form of the energy equation for one dimensional heat
dissipation from an extended surface (fin).
The parameter m, for a given fin, is constant provided the convective film coefficient h is constant
over the whole surface and the thermal conductivity k is constant within the temperature range
considered. Then the general solution of this linear and homogeneous second order differential
equation is of the form:

(4)

Where C1 and C2 are constants, These are determined by using boundary conditions
One boundary condition is,
 = 0 = to- ta at x = 0, Other boundary condition deepens on physical situation. The
following cases may be considered:
15
Types of fin conditions:

Case 1: Long fin configuration (Infinitely long fin)


Case 2. Short fin end insulated:
Case 3. Short fin with convection, hL at the tip.
Case 4. Specified end temperatures.

16
Case 1: Infinitely long fin

17
Heat flow through rectangular fin:
(i) At x = 0, T = To
Temperature at the base of fin equals the temperature of the surface to which
fin is attached
T – Ta = To – Ta ( In terms of excess temperature)
Or at x = 0,  = 0

(ii) at x = , t = ta ( Temperature at the end of an infinitely long


fin equals that of the surroundings)
at x = ,  = 0 ( In terms of excess temperature)

18
Heat flow through rectangular fin:
Substituting boundary conditions in equation (4) we get

Substituting the values of C1 and C2 in equation (4) we


get temperature distribution along the length of the fin,

(5)

19
Heat flow through rectangular fin:
The rate of heat flow across the base of the fin is given by

From equation (5)

(6)
Substituting for m.

20

You might also like