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June 28-30, 2011

Thermal Analysis of Copper Fin by FEA

Matkar M.V. P. M. Ravanan rmaheshmatkar@yahoo.com pmravanan@vjti.org.com VJTI, Mumbai 1. Introduction
Fins are used for the heat transfer purpose in various instruments like heating and cooling equipments. So it is necessary to analyze and calculate the temperature and heat transfer rate by fin. Transient thermal analysis gives the correct values of the temperature which is varying with the time. To manufacturing fin we used various types of material like the Aluminium, copper, carbon steel etc. but the selecting correct material is important. In this paper I calculate the heat transfer rate and the temperature behaviour for the same object with the different material (like copper and aluminium). Though in cooling and heating equipments we see various types of fins which are having different sizes and shape, but for better explanation I used cylindrical fin for analysis.

2. Procedure
Following are the steps required for thermal analysis: Steady State and Transient Thermal Analysis Defining the element Defining the material properties Building geometry Meshing Defining load Solution Result

3. Input Properties
Following are the input properties of copper required for the thermal analysis:
Table 1 Copper Properties Properties Density Coefficient of thermal expansion Thermal conductivity Specific heat (Cp) Ambient Temperature Values 8933 10 398 385 25 Unit Kg/m W/m/k W/m/k J/kg/k C

Base temperature 100 C Source Strength of Material by Bhandari

4. Transient Analysis
We know the steps used for the transient thermal analysis, now here we applying those steps to analyzed the copper fin: Defining the Element In this we define the element as solid 87 as copper fin is solid piece. And also this 10 node tetrahedral element works well for the curved edges of the fin. Defining the Material Properties Here we apply the material properties like coefficient of thermal expansion, thermal conductivity and density. In ansys software following steps should be follow to defining material. Preprocessor > Material properties>Material models > Thermal >Enter Conductivity > Isotropic > KXX = 398, Specific heat C = 385, Density DENS = 8933.

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Building the Geometry Figure 1 shows the cylindrical copper fin. Meshing

Source Ansys 12 Modeling Figure 1 Copper Fin Geometry

Source Ansys.12 Meshing Figure 2 Map Meshing

Figure 2 shows the meshing of copper fin. Now for meshing use map meshing as it gives accurate area. Steps to doing that are follows: Preprocessor > Meshing > Mesh tool > Turn on smart size to 4 > Mesh > Volumes > Mesh > (Pick the body) > OK. Defining Load In this, we define the initial temperature and convection values steps include: 1230

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Defining Temperature by Following Steps Solution > Analysis Type > New Analysis > Transient > OK > Full > OK Solution > Define Loads > Apply > Thermal > Temperature > On Areas > (pick base of fin) > TEMP 100 > OK. Defining Convection Solution > Define Loads > Apply > Thermal > Convection > On Areas > (pick all of the areas except for the base there are 3 just click 3 times near the tip of the fin) > Film Coefficient =10, Bulk Temperature = 25 > OK. Defining Initial Temperature Solution > Define Loads > Apply > Initial Conditn > Define > Pick All > Lab = TEMP, VALUE = 25. Defining Set Time Solution > Load Step Opts > Time/Frequenc > TimeTime Step > Set TIME = 10000 KBC = stepped, AUTOTS = Prog Chosen, Minimum time step size = 0.01, maximum time step size= 200 > OK. Defining Frequency Solution > Load Step Opts > Output Ctrls > DB/Results File > FREQ = every substep > OK. Solve Solution > Solve > Current LS > OK.

Solution In this, software gives solution in terms temperature range, list of temperature and graphs. After selecting node with the help of following steps we can get the solution.
Table 2 List of Variables

Source Ansys. 12 List Result

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Source Ansys. 12 Graph Result Figure 3 Graph Variable

Result Figure 5 shows the steady state temperature or last second temperature (at 10000s) which can get by following steps: General Postproc > Read Results > Last set. General Postproc > Plot Results > Contour Plot > Nodal Solution > DOF Solution > Nodal Temperature > OK. Figure 6 shows the temperature at 50th second, by using following steps: General Postproc > Read Results > By Time/Freq > Enter TIME = 50 > OK General Postproc > Plot Results > Contour Plot > Nodal Solution > DOF Solution > Nodal Temperature > OK.

Source Ansys. 12 Nodal Solution Figure 4 Steady State Temperature

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Source Ansys. 12 Nodal Solution Figure 5 Temperature at 50th Second

Now next is the animation part. Animation can be done by following steps: PlotCtrls > Animate > Over Time > click on Time Range and enter 0 for a minimum time and 3000for a maximum time > OK. Heat Flow Now for heat flow, it can be done by following steps, General Postproc > Read Results > Last Set. General Postproc > List Results > Reaction Solu > Heat flow > OK.

5. Transient Analysis on the Aluminium

Here we use same steps which already used in copper fin analysis. Now, first thing is that to define input properties of aluminium. Table 3, shows the input properties of the aluminium. We required this properties for define material in ansys software. The Element type is same which is SOLID 87. All load application parameters are same, except solution all other Time steps, time start, maximum time etc. are same.
Table 3 Aluminium Properties Properties Density Coefficient of thermal expansion Thermal conductivity Specific heat (Cp) Ambient Temperature Values 2700 10 236 900 25 Unit Kg/m W/m/k W/m/k J/kg/k C

C Base temperature 100 Source Strength of Material by Bhandari

6. Results of Aluminium Fin

Result steps are same as we used in the copper fin analysis. Following figures and Table shows the results of the analysis.
Table 4 List Variables TIME 1.0000 1.4815 1.8290 TEMPERATURE 8.06606 13.0496 16.8442 TIME 3894.3 4094.3 4094.3 TEMPERATURE 96.3262 96.3285 96.3285

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2.1765 3.1135 4.5953 6.8853 10.385 15.706 23.775 36.002 54.522 82.581 125.38 193.32 309.50 494.28 694.28 894.28 1094.3 1294.3 1494.3 1694.3 1894.3 2094.3 2294.3 2494.3 2694.3 2894.3 3094.3 3294.3 3494.3 3694.3

20.5484 28.6771 37.8135 46.9452 55.4212 62.9268 69.3731 74.7975 79.2971 82.9905 86.0093 88.5243 90.7196 92.5577 93.7640 94.5592 95.1015 95.4764 95.7367 95.9179 96.0441 96.1320 96.1933 96.2359 96.2657 96.2864 96.3008 96.3109 96.3179 96.3228

3894.3 4094.3 4294.3 4494.3 4694.3 4894.3 5094.3 5294.3 5494.3 5694.3 5894.3 6094.3 6294.3 6494.3 6694.3 6894.3 7094.3 7294.3 7494.3 7694.3 7894.3 8094.3 8294.3 8494.3 8694.3 8894.3 9094.3 9294.3 9494.3 9694.3 9894.3 10000. Source Ansys.12 List Result

96.3262 96.3285 96.3302 96.3313 96.3321 96.3327 96.3331 96.3333 96.3335 96.3337 96.3338 96.3338 96.3339 96.3339 96.3339 96.3339 96.3339 96.3339 96.3340 96.3340 96.3340 96.3340 96.3340 96.3340 96.3340 96.3340 96.3340 96.3340 96.3340 96.3340 96.3340 96.3340

Source Ansys.12 Graph Variables Figure 6 Graph Variables

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In above result we just saw the values with respect to time, and also the graph variables. Now we see the behaviour of the temperature on the fin at various set of time. First one is the behaviour of the nodes at the last set.

Source Ansys. 12 Nodal Solution Figure 7 Nodal Solution at Last Set

Source Ansys. 12 Nodal Solution Figure 8 Nodal Solution - Set of 50 Second

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Source Ansys. 12 Nodal Solution Figure 9 Nodal Solution- Set of 180

Last solution is the Heat flow, which is 56.991W.

7. Conclusion
In this paper, we successfully did the transient analysis on the copper fin and the aluminium fin. Here we get the accurate values of temperature with respect to the varying time. Also we get the value of the heat flow rate. Also we can animate the result with varying time. After comparing the both fin analysis, it is observe that heat flow rate of copper fin (19.2W) is less than the heat flow rate of the alluminium fin (56.99 W). Also the comparison of graph variables of both materials shows the steady state condition with respect to time. From the graph we know that the copper gets stable at the lowest temperature. And hence here conclude that the copper is best material suitable for fin than the aluminium.

8. References
1. 2. 3. Thermal Analysis Guide. Turi, E. Thermal Characterization of Polymeric Materials, Academic Press, 1981. "Isothermal Cure of an Epoxy by Dynamic Mechanical Analysis", Perkin-Elmer Thermal Analysis Newsletter #44, The Perkin-Elmer Corporation, Norwalk, Connecticut, 1993.

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