REGENERATIVE HEAT TRANSFER IN RECIPROCATING ENGINE:

INTRODUCTION: Heating and cooling of the gas are unavoidable events associated with compression and expansion in reciprocating engines. An obvious result of this is the transfer of heat from and to the gas which also occurs in an unsteady manner. Such a transfer has both advantages as well as disadvantages. This investigation is concerned with the harmful effects of heat transfer to and from the gas which takes place in the absence of any heat source. Regenerative heat transfer as it is known is a major contributor to the detrimental effects of suction gas heating and the consequent loss of volumetric efficiency. The ability to model such a phenomenon would be of great benefit in performance prediction as well as structural design of cylinders. But the enormous complexity of such an unsteady flow and heat transfer process prevents even attempting modeling based on pure analytical hypothesis.

FIN GEOMETRY AND DENSITY: Fins improve heat transfer in two ways. One way is by creating turbulent flow through fin geometry, which reduces the thermal resistance (the inverse of the heat transfer coefficient) through the nearly stagnant film that forms when a fluid flows parallel to a solid surface. A second way is by increasing the fin density, which increases the heat transfer area that comes in contact with the fluid. Performance also increase pressure drop, which is a critical requirement in most high Fin geometries and densities that create turbulent flow and improve performance applications. The optimum fin geometry and fin density combination is then a compromise of performance, pressure drop, weight, and size. A figure-ofmerit comparison based on performance, pressure drop, weight, and size among

common fin types is described in Air Cooled Compact Heat Exchanger Design for Electronics Cooling. Aside from fin geometry, parameters such as thickness, height, pitch, and spacing can also be altered to improve performance. Typically, fin thicknesses vary from 0.004 in (0.1 mm) to 0.012 in (0.3 mm), heights vary from 0.035 in (0.89 mm) to 0.6 in (15.24 mm), and densities vary from 8 to 30 FPI (Fins per Inch). In most high performance applications, fins are made of copper or aluminum. Aluminum fins are preferred in aircraft electronic liquid

cooling applications due to their lighter weight. Copper fins are mostly used in applications where weight is not an important factor but compatibility with other cooling loop materials is. There are many different fin geometries used in heat transfer applications. Some of the most commonly used are louvered, lanced offset, straight, and wavy fins. Transfer area is relatively easy in concept, though sometimes constrained by application requirements such as weight, size, and pressure drop. An effective way to increase the heat transfer area is to increase the fin density (fins per unit length). Increasing the film coefficient is more complicated, however, because the film coefficient is dependent upon the properties of the fluid being considered, the fluid velocity, and the fin geometry. MEETING THE CHALLENGE: When faced with demanding and sometimes conflicting application requirements, including performance, pressure drop, weight, and size, working with an experienced supplier that understands how to optimize the fin geometry and fin density of heat exchangers and cold plates is essential in order to maximize performance and meet the application requirements.