An Experimental Study of the Local Heat Transfer Characteristics in Automotive Louvered Fins

Hiroshi A o k i
Tsutomu Shinagawa Kazuidko Suga 1This paper describes experimental devices for measuring the distribution of heat transfer coefficients in mulfilouvered fins. The devices are composed of louverlike thin elements having a three fold structure--a base metal, an electrical insulator, and an evaporated nickel film as both heating film and resistance thermometer. The locally averaged heat transfer coefficient for the individual louvers in the louver array is obtained by measuring the electric power input for the film and the temperature difference between the element and air. The validity of the method was verified in comparison with an analytical solution for a fiat plate, numerical solutions for two-dimensional louver arrays, and another method for measuring the mean heat transfer coefficient. The relation between the distribution of heat transfer coefficients in the louvered fins and the fin geometries was elucidated. The device developed for measuring the heat transfer coefficients for the individual louvers is useful for achieving optimum design of louvered fin geometries. Keywords: forced convection, heat exchangers, louvered fins

Research Division I, Toyota Central Research and Development Laboratories, Nagakute-cho, Aichi-gun, Japan

INTRODUCTION One of the most important objectives in the study of heat exchangers has been to develop high-performance heat exchangers. With increasing heat loads to such automotive heat exchangers as radiators, condensers, heaters, and evaporators, further improvements have become necessary. Most automotive heat exchangers are composed of corrugated multilouvered fins and robes (Fig. 1). Optimization of louvered fin geometries, one of the most effective methods of improving heat-exchanger performance, requires accurate estimates of the relationship between the fin geometries and fin performance variables such as heat transfer coefficients and pressure drops. The accurate measurement of heat transfer coefficients is difficult and takes much time and money, whereas pressure drops are easily measured. Kays and London [1] presented experimental data for multilouvered fins. Davenport [2] performed a practical study of louvered fins and presented correlations of heat transfer and flow friction characteristics for 32 test fin cores. Fujikake et al [3] developed an experimental apparatus for a transient method [4] and measured the mean heat transfer coefficents for about 100 automotive corrugated louvered fin cores. The heat transfer coefficients for the individual louvers could not he measured by the previous study, but it was poss~le to measure the mean coefficients. The coefficients have not been measured for automotive multilouvered fins with fin pitches and louver pitches as small as about 1 ram, owing to the experimental complexities and difficulties. Tanaka et al [5] measured the coefficients for the scale-up geometries, although the measured coefficients were not presented in their paper. We do not know

the measured coefficients for multilouvered fins. The objective of this study is to develop devices for measuring the coefficients of the individual louvers in multilouvered fins and to clarify the heat transfer mechanism in the fins for their optimum design. EXPERIMENTAL METHOD AND APPARATUS Figure 2 shows the schematic diagram of the apparatus. It is composed of two parts: a sensing device for measuring the heat transfer coefficient and a data processing unit. Sensing Device Two kinds of sensing devices were developed. One is made of stainless steel strips, and the other is made of aluminum pressworked multilouvered fins. Staialess Steel Sensing Deviee. Figure 3 shows the stainless steel sensing device. R has a threefold slmcune--a thin base metal layer, an electrical insulation layer, and a nickel layer. The hase motal is a 5Q/~m thick stainiess steel strip. The insulation layer is a 3000 A thick Si~14 spmtered film. The nickel layer is a 1500 ~ thick evaporated film deposited by electron bombardment and plays two roles, as a heater and as a resistance thermometer. The heat transfer coefficients of the individual louvers in the fins were measured with the strip elements set in louver arrays at the fixed fin pitch Pf, louver pitch PI, and louver angle 0 using fixing copper plates (Fig. 4).

Address correspondenceto Dr. Hiroshi Aoki, Research Division I, Toyota Central Research & DevelopmentLaboratories, Inc., Nagakute-cho, Aichi-gun, Aichi Pref., 480-11, Japan.

F,~rimental Thermaland Fluid Science 1989; 2:293-300 1989 by Elsevier Science Publishing Co., Inc., 655 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10010

0894-1777/89/$3.50

293

294 H. Aoki et al.

. ~ f ~ o u v e

r ~y

tube

Cross section
Figure 3. Stainless steel sensing device.

Figure 1. Corrugated multi-louvered fins and tubes. Aluminum Press-Worked Sensing Device. Figure 5 shows the press-worked sensing device. This device also has a threefold structure. The base metal is an 80/tin thick aluminum element. The electrical insulation layer is a l0 #m thick A1203 anodic oxidation fdm formed in 5 wt % bromic acid. The nickel films are separately evaporated on the individual louvers by using one masking plate at a time. The press-worked sensing device was superior to the stainless steel strip elements with respect to the uniformity of multilouvered fin spacing, that is, the uniformity of the louver pitch and louver angle. Both ends of the device were adhesively connected with glass plates, on which 6 #m thick aluminum electrode films were evaporated by electron bombardment. The resistances of the electrodes were 0.1 ohm. Evaporated Film. Nickel was evaporated on the insulation layer since the metal has the following favorable properties: 1. Large resistance/temperature coefficients 2. Strong adherence to the insulation layer 3. Stability over an operating temperature range of 30-50"C

fixing copper plate

Sensing

elements

s e t t i n g in a l o u v e r a r r a y

~Of
inlet
deflection ~ - ~ ~. ---" ..- 1 1 / t ,--

~ - ~ - ~ , -~- ~ - - - 1 1 1 .--/p-louver ~ ' ~ ~ ~-~'-~/ J / / I v - - - ~ . o u t let

~---~.-.-,--~-~/1 / / 1 ~ ~ ~,~. ~ . ~ , ~ - - / / / 1 i~--deflection louver

sensing device

straightener tie
:or

,n = ~ e d T ~ : / ~ ' ~ " / ~ n ~ ' e r me d iat e deflection louver louver

Cross section of sensing device

Figure 4. Sensing device of stainless steel strip elements.

E [
,,

Cross : of louver
Figure 5. Sensing device of aluminum press-worked fin. Figure 2. Schematic diagram of apparatus.

Heat Transfer Characteristics of Louvered Fins Table 1. Properties of Metal Materials

295

Bulk Data (T = 20C)

Specific Resistance P (Q m) 10.6 x lo-* 7.24 x 10-s 42.0 x10-* Temperamre Coefficient of Resistance B (Cl) 3.9 x 10-r 6.7 x 1O-3 5.5 x 10-r

Film Characteristics

Materials Pt Ni Ti

Advantages Stable at high temp. Large adhesive force Large adhesive force

Disadvantages Small adhesive force

Small temperature coefficient of resistance

Table 1 compares the properties of three metals: nickel, platinum, and titanium. The adhesive force of platimun is weak in comparison with that of nickel or titanium. The resistance/ temperature coefficient of the evaporated titanium film is small, although that of bulk titanium is large. Figure 6 shows the properties of the evaporated nickel film. The specific resistauce p decreased with increasing film thickness. On the other hand, the resistance/temperature coefficient was nearly constant, 4.0 x 10-3/C at 2OC. This value was 60% of the bulk data. Nickel was evaporated onto the insulation layer to a thickness of more than 1500 A. The resm of the evaporated nickel films were about 10 ohms for sensing elements of 5 mm louver width.

MeasuringProcedure The correlations between the resistance and the temperature of the nickel film were previously calibrated by the four-leadingwire method with the digital voltmeter, while the nickel film was uniformly heated with hot air. The air temperatures were measured with five chromel-ahunel thermocouples of 25 pm diameter installed in front of and in the rear of the device. After the steady state was reached, the uniformity of the hot air temperature distribution in the sensing device was verified to be within 0.2C. The correlations were stored in the memory of the personal computer and used for the calculation of the heat transfer coefficient. The locally averaged heat transfer coefficients for the individual louvers were measured from the values of the electric power input to the nickel film and the temperature difference between the air and the element. Air temperature was measured from the averaged thermoelectromotive force of five chromel-alumel thermocouples installed in front of the device. The coefficients of the individual louvers were measured by electrically heating a single louver at a time. The heated louver was raised to a temperature about 10 K above room temperature. After a steady state was reached, the voltage V impressed on the nickel film and the thermoelectromotive forces of the thermocouples measuriug air temperature were measured by the voltmeter and the data were transmitted to the computer through the GP-IB intcrfacc bus line. The electric current Z was input through the keyboard of the computer. The resistance of the whole nickel fihn, R,, was estimated from the electric current Z and the voltage V as R,, = V/Z (1)

Data Proceasing Unit The data processing uuit was composed of a precision dc power supply, a digital voltmeter, a digital multimeter, and a personal computer. The power supply was connected with the digital multimeter and the sensing device through the leading wires in a series circuit. The digital voltmeter was cormected with the sensing device through the different leading wires and controlled by the personal computer.

The temperature distribution in the louver was calculated by solving the two-dimensional heat conduction equation using the finite-difference method. The temperature distribution in the direction of the louver thickness 7, was assumed to be uniform due to its small thickness. The governing equation is
I

%I3

1.2 1.6 Nickel f i Im thickness

.0x103

71

a( X 8 T/ax)

ax

+ a( X a TGy)

ay

>

=2ar(T-To)-q

(2)

Figure 6. Specific resistance properties of evaporated nickel film.

The computed domain for the stainleas steel device was only the heated louver owing to the low conductivity of the base

296 H. Aoki et al. 4. Correct the tentative heat transfer coefficient c~by comparing the calculated resistance Rc~, with the measured resistance Rexp. These procedures were repeated until the two resistances coincided within 10 -5 .

TIj ,
l..

f~ TIj * RIj - V l j
-1

]
RESULTS A N D DISCUSSION Experimental Parameters Experimental geometrical parameters were the fin pitch P/, the louver pitch P1 (the louver width b), the louver angle 0, and the flowwise length of the fin core D. Table 2 shows the tested multilouvered fin geometries of the stainless steel sensing device, and Table 3 rep/esents the fm geometries of the aluminum press-worked sensing device. The dimensions of the devices were decided on the basis of the automotive multilouvered fin size. Experimental Uncertainty

10t j,.
f't
m

a'tj I

l(l~lj -,,Tij)~ij II ilj - 11j ]

[.
[

TlJ RIJ

Wtemimtton

0 a

Figure 7. Flow chart of iterative calculation. metal. Boundary conditions were as follows: #T/Ox = 0 at the leading edge and the trailing edge T = To at both ends connecting with the copper plates

The computed domain for the press-worked device was not only the heated louver but also the louver array owing to the high thermal conductivity of the base metal. Heat insulation boundary condition was assumed at both ends connected with the glass plates of low thermal conductivity. Figure 7 shows the flow chart of the iterative calculation. The procedures were
as follows.

1. Calculate the specific resistance distribution R u with the resistance-temperature calibration curve for the tentative temperature distribution Tu. The distributions of the voltage, current, and heat generation are calculated using Kirchhoff's law for the calculated specific resistance distribution. 2. Solve the two-dimensional heat conduction equation to get the temperature distribution T0 by iteration of procedures 1 and 2 under a tentative heat transfer coefficient ot 3. Calculate the nickel film resistance R ~ from the calculated temperature distribution T/j in the film. Table 2. Fin-Corn Geometries of Stainless Steel Sensing Devices Louver Pitch Pi (ram)
1.0

Experimental uncertainty of the present method was estimated by comparison with an analytical solution, a numerical solution, and another measuring method. The heat transfer coefficients measured with the single stainless steel strip element in a uniform flow coincided to within 4% with the analytical solution for laminar flow along a fiat plate (Fig. 8). The solid line presents the analytical solution for a constant wall temperature. The uniform surface temperature distribution was not established in this experiment, but the flowwise temperature distribution was small owing m the heat conduction in the base metal. The deviation was mainly due to the nonuniformity of the element surface temperature, but the results were proportional to Re~-s, as in the analytical solution. These results demonstrate the validity of the sensing element used in the present method. The distributions of the heat transfer coefficients in the multilouvered fins were compared with the numerical solutions, as we know no other methods for measuring the coefficients. Figure 9 shows the comparison between the heat transfer coefficients measured by the pressworked sensing device and numerical solutions for a set of two-dimensional louver arrays. The numerical solutions were obtained for a two-dimensional incompressible viscous flow. In order to achieve a high computing accuracy, a maximum of about 105 grid points with overlaid grids [6] were used. The computed velocity distributions were verified to coincide to within 5 % with the measured velocity distributions for a scaleup model. The CPU times were approximately 40-60 min when using a supercomputer NEC/SX2. Measured and numerical coefficients agreed within 10%. The measurement reproducibility of the individual sensing louvers was within + 1% at

Louver Angle 0 (deg)

35.0

Louver Width b (ram)

0.8

Fin Pitch Pf (ram) 1.0

x

1.25
x

1.5
x

2.0 x

1.0 1.4

x x

x x

x x

Fin depthD = 16mm; fin height H = 30mm.

Heat Transfer Characteristics of Louvered Fins 297

Table 3. Fin-Core Geometries of Aluminum Press-Worked Sensing Devices"

~
Louver Angle 0 (deg)
25.0

! f

Louver Pitch P~ (mm)

1.0

Fin Pitch Ps (ram) 0.7~ 0.9

x x

A- exp. o- cal.

Reb=450

1.1
x

1.3

1.5
x

1.8
x

27.8 31.8 1.35 1.7 32.4 32.5

x x

x x x

x x x x

x x x x

Pf=l mm
x

Pl =1 ran

O = 272}

Fin depth D = 22 nun; f i n height H = 16 nun.

Sensing Louver Array

Figure 9. Comparison between experimental results and numerical solutions. the method beyond the fin geometries shown in Table 2, such as the lower limits of fin pitch and louver angle and the upper limit of louver width, have not become clear in this study. They are to be estimated in future work. We do not intend to compare the results obtained with the present method with those of another method for practical applications. The present method will be utilized for developing high-performance louvered f'ms by the comparison among the heat transfer coefficients obtained with various fin geometry factors such as fin pitch, louver pitch, and louver angle.
Heat Transfer Coefficient for Individual Louvers

the fixed fin-core geometries. The measured coefficients in Fig. 9 are the averaged values of the corresponding louvers in five press-worked sensing devices. The difference among the five corresponding coefficients was about 10%. This difference was due mainly to the spacing error of the sensing devices, that is, the nonuniformity of the fin pitch, louver pitch, and so on, in setting up the fin-core arrays. The experimental uncertainty was determined by these spacing errors. Figure 10 shows the comparison with the mean heat transfer coefficients measured by a transient method [3]. The mean heat transfer coefficients for the individual louvers were obtained from the measured values by the following procedure. First, the flowwise temperature distribution of air was calculated according to the measured coefficients under the assumption of constant wall temperature, then the logarithmic mean temperature difference A Ti, and total exchanged heat Q were calculated with the obtained outlet air temperature. The mean heat transfer coefficients were obtained with these values using the expression

(3) where At is the total heat transfer surface area. In the present
olin = Q / ( A t A Tin )

method, the measured coefficients were not directly influenced by the thermal wakes of the upstream louvers, as the single louvers measuring the coefficient were heated one at a time. The difference between the two methods was about 5 %. This indicates that the thermal wakes are fairly recovered or scarcely influence the downstream louvers for the fin geometries shown in Fig. 10. Thus, the validity of the present method was confirmed by these comparisons. However, the limits of
I i i i i

Figures 11 and 12 are examples of measurements taken with the stainless steel device and the press-worked device, respectively. The measured heat transfer coefficients for the individual louvers increased with decreases in the fin pitch. The coefficients for the intermediate deflection louvers located in the middle of the louver array were less than those for the other louvers, and the degra_d~_fionwas remarkable with the increase in fin pitch. The coefficients downstream of the intermediate deflection louver were also less than those upstream of the deflection louver for the fin geometries with greater fin pitch. These results were demonstrated clearly for the first time by the present method. Figure 13 shows the local Nusselt number versus Reynolds number based on the louver width b for the individual louvers. Nusselt numbers were nearly proportional to Re 5. This correlation suggests laminar heat transfer.

,<
i i i i ~ , I i i

J~

O : present method z

Z
o w
W

J
_~ 4

4
I [

8102

'

"

'

'

'

o II m =1

PI= 1ram Pf=l.5mm e=27.8 D=22mm

' ' '

Reynolds Number R%.ub/#

Figure 8. Comparison between present results and analytical

solution.

102 2 4 6 Reynolds Number R%-ub/~mse)

' ' "

Figure I0. Results of present and transient method.

298 H. Aoki et al.

41 I
' , , r , . . . . . . . . i

Z~ 0

rl ~7 <>

~v
u~

E~

=IC ~Z

-I

i..,-

g
b= PI=I ~
I I

~" T

8
6 "

U = 3 m / s .D=16mm b=Pl=l mm 0=35"

' ' ' ' " ' ' = '

Pf=l
I

~ 6

e=35 = D=16~
J 4 I

I I ~

I I I I d l l

2 6 8 102 Reb= ub//J

8 102

2 RUb= ub//J

,.\\\

\ ~'~

~'/////.

Reynolds Number

Sensing Louver Array Figure 11. Distributions of heat transfer coefficients measured by stainless steel sensing device.

Figure 13. Nusselt number versus Reynolds number for stainless steel sensing device array.

Mean Heat Transfer Coefficient

Mean data in Figs. 14-17 are simply the area-weighted averages of the individual coefficients. The procedure of calculation is different from that used in Fig. 10. Figure 14 shows the mean heat transfer coefficients calculated from the heat transfer coefficients measured with the stainless steel sensing devices of the fin pitch Py = 1 ram, and Fig. 15 shows mean Nusselt number versus Reynolds number based on the louver width b for the same sensing devices. The correlation between the Nnsselt number and the Reynolds number was presented by one equation for different louver widths b. Figure 15 indicates that the effect of the wake is small and similar flow is attained with these fin geometries. Figures 16 and 17 show the effect of the fin geometries. These diagrams suggest the existence of the maximum heat transfer coefficients for various combinations of the fm geometries. These data are useful for the optimum design of multilouvered f'm geometries.
PRACTICAL USEFULNESS/SIGNIFICANCE

b=0.8mm

_ ~ "

.u_~ 4

I
Pf=l mm ,
I

I)

=
t" ill

102
8
6
I

PI=I

mm

D = 16mm
I

8 =35
I i =

Inlet

Velocity

u m/s

Figure 14. Mean heat transfer coefficients for intermediate louvers.

Engineers concerned with the enhancement of heat-exchanger performance can apply the present device for the development of high-performance louvered fins. For instance, Figs. 11 and
,<

3 2 = E

A b = 0.8 mm O b=l.Omm J [] b=1.4 mm

ooo~o~- ooo~ o
o

z101
96
E
0.5 1/3 Nub ~- 0.87'Reb Pr Pf----1mm.6=35
z
i I | I I i i I I

10 z -~
~[~

8
I

1o5 m m / / 1.8 r a m / PI = 1 m m D = 2 2 mm
I I I I I I I I J

U=3 m/s
0 = 27.8

H=16mm
J , , ~ J , t i i

8 10 2

Reynolds Number
Sensing Louver Array

Relo u b / ( 12 cos(} ) =

Figure 15. Mean Nusselt numbers for intermediate louvers.

Figure 12. Distributions ofheat transfer coefficients measured by press-worked sensing device.

Heat Transter t;naractensucs OI L,ouvereQ Pins

,~l

t~=7m/s'

b=Ol8mm

'

coefficients is useful for the optimum design of louvered fin geometries. We wish to thank Dr. K. Fujikak of our company, Toyota Central Research & DevelopmentLaboratories, Inc., for his valuable suggestions and the NippondensoCo., Ltd. for the manufacture of the press-worked fins. NOMENCLATURE

10

D=16mm

Pl=lmm

0=35 "_

At
b D H I Nu Nuo

8L

' I I I 1 1.0 125 1.5 1.75 2.0 Ratio of Fin P i t c h to Louver P i t c h

Figure 16. Effect of multilouvered fin geometries (stainless steel sensing device).

12 show that the improvement near the intermediate deflection louver is valid for developing high-performance fins. Using the present method, engineers need not manufacture fiill-size heat exchangers for investigating the effects on fin performance of many experimental parameters but need only a few tens of fins at considerable savings of both time and money. CONCLUSION An experimental device for measuring the heat transfer coefficients is of individual louvers in multilouvered fins has been developed by using a sensing device of nickel fdm evaporated on a fin of the actual dimensions of interest. Use of the device clarifies the correlation between the distributions of the coefficients and the fin geometries. Heat transfer performance is influenced by fin geometry factors such as fm pitch, louver pitch (louver width), and louver angle. For greater measurement accuracy, multilouver sensing devices of highly uniform spacing are needed, as the experimental uncertainty depends on the spacing error of the louvered fins. The device developed for measuring the locally averaged heat transfer

Pf
Pt Q q R~ Reb R,~v Ta T u V x y a

surface area of individual louver, m 2 total heat transfer surface area, m 2 louver width, mm fin core length, mm fin height, mm electric current, A mean Nnsselt number, dimensionless Nnsselt number based on louver width for individual louvers, dimensionless fm pitch, nun louver pitch, mm total exchanged heat, W rate of electric heat generation, W calculated resistance of nickel film, ohms Reynolds number based on louver width b, dimensionless measured resistance of nickel film, ohms temperature of air, C temperature of the device, C inlet velocity, m/s voltage on nickel film, V coordinate along the main flow direction transverse coordinate Greek Symbols heat transfer coefficient, W/(m 2 K) temperature coefficient of specific resistance,

oC-I

0 X p 7t b

louver angle, deg thermal conductivity of the device, W/(m K) specific resistance of nickel film, ohm m sensing device thickness, ~m
Subscripts

260

ij
t22O ~ E E -200 24 m
ly

louver width distribution in element mean data

REFERENCES PI=I mm
D =22ram H = 16 m m

2'6 2L8 30 32 Louver A n g l e 0 cleg

I. Kays, W. M., and London, A. L., Compact Heat Exchangers, McCn-aw-Hill, New York, 1964. 2. Davenport, C. J., Correlation for Heat Transfer and Flow Friction Characteristics of Louvered fin, AICHE Syrup. Set., 79 (225) 1927, 1983.

Figure 17, Effect of multilouvered fin geometries (aluminum press-worked sensing device).

3. Fujikake, K., Aold, H., and Mitui, H., An Apparatus for Measuring the Heat Transfer Coefficientsof Finned Heat Exchangersby Use of a

300

H. Aoki et al. 6. Launder, B. E., and Massey, T. H., The Numerical Prediction of Viscous Flow and Heat Transfer in Tube Banks, J. Heat Transfer, 100, 565-571, 1978.

Transient Method, Prec. Japan 20th Symposium on Heat Transfer, Fukuoka, pp. 466--468, May 1983. 4. Pucci, P. F., Howard, C. D., and Piersall, C. H., Jr., The SingleBlow Transient Testing Technique for Compact Heat Exchanger Surfaces, ASME Paper No. 66-GT-93, 1966. 5. Tanaka, T., Ito, M., Kubo, M., and Tomita, S., Development of Inclined Louver-Fin Heat Exchangers, Trans. Japan Soc. Mech. Eng. (Set. B), 49 (442), 1204-1211, 1983.

Received April 15, 1988; revised December 15, 1988