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Effect of the fluid movement on heat exchange : what is necessary to keep in mind

Here is, as a conclusion, the summary of all that was seen and of what is to be kept in mind to understand convection. The convection thermal resistance Rcv is given by :

To reduce this, it is necessary to have the largest effective heat-transferring surface area S and the highest possible convective transfer coefficient h, therefore this means to look for a flow having :

  • a high fluid's thermal conductivity
  • a high flow rate ...
  • ... even better a more turbulent flow
  • a high fluid's density and specific heat ( in fact their product )

Recall of the physical properties of water and air :

Fluid
k
c
r
Water
0.6
4180
1000
Air
0.026
1006
1.2

In the light of that, which is the most interesting fluid ?

Water !

For this reason the interest in watercooling ;)

 
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