Improvements ...
How improve convection heat transfer ?
Two angles of attack arise naturally : one relates to h
and the other to S,
even both simultaneously. It is a question of increasing both in
order to decrease the convection thermal resistance.
Heat-transferring surface area : fin
The "Simplest" method is to increase the area of the plate with
a bigger one, but this is limited by the fact that the spreading
resistance also increases, with its related drawbacks.
The best method to increase contact surface area between
fluid and solid is to use fins, and the vast majority of coolers
are provided with such. Rather than adding surface area while spreading
out horizontally, it is done vertically.
On the practical and theoretical side, the effectiveness of a fin
will primarily depend on its thickness and height. Each part of
the fin surface will not exchange the same amount of heat, since
the temperature decreases from the base to the top of the fin.
This results in a coefficient (efficiency, ranging between 0 and
1) which will balance the fin-fluid contact surface area, so that
the fin's heat transfer with the fluid occurs on an effective area
smaller than the real contact area.
Generally, beyond the point where the temperature of the fin is
nearly identical to that of the fluid, the remainder of surface
exchanges virtually no heat to the fluid and is thus useless. Moreover,
the higher fins are, the more the volume of the cooler is and if
the flow rate is constant then its velocity decreases, also the
thermal convection ... it's a matter of compromises, as in most
situations.
Other improvements:
They relate primarily to h
but can also have a slight positive impact on the heat-transferring
surface area. They generally consist of mechanisms to "break" the
boundary layer in order to reduce it, to disturb the flow
so that mixing is increased as well as turbulence.
In practice this is done by tweaking the geometry and the finish
quality of the heat-transferring surfaces. Rough surfaces and the
presence of turbulators will achieve this task.
But always keep in mind that the benefit in performance obtained
thanks to these improvements will be paid on the other hand by pressure
losses which will be addressed further ... compromises ...
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