Abstract
This study was carried out numerically to investigate the air flow and thermal performance around single and parallel fin-tube heat exchangers and the cooling performance of the fluid inside the heat exchangers. In this study, the air velocity(1~7m/s), the pitch of fin(4, 6.1, 8, 11.3, 18.3, 44mm) and the diameter of fin(31, 33, 35, 37, 39mm) were varied. The flow rate of the water at the fin-tube heat exchanger inlet is 89cc/min and the water temperature is 353K. The air temperature at the upstream region of the heat exchanger is 300K. flow rate of the water at the fin-tube heat exchanger inlet is 80cc/min and the water temperature is 353K. It was found that the air pressure drop around single and parallel fin-tube heat exchangers was highly dependent on the air velocity and the fin pitch, but was independent of the fin diameter. Also, it was shown that pressure drop increased more the parallel arrangements than in single heat exchanger. The temperature difference of water at the inlet and outlet of the heat exchanger depended on the air velocity, the fin pitch and the fin diameter, and it was found that the parallel arrangement method further reduced the temperature of water. It was shown that the Nusselt number increased as the Reynolds number and the fin pitch increased, and decreased as the fin diameter increased.