An experimental-numerical evaluation of thermal contact conductance in fin-tube heat exchangers

The contact between fin collar and tube surface of a fin-tube heat exchanger is secured through mechanical expansion of tubes. However, the characteristics of heat transfer through the interfaces between the tubes and fins have not been clearly understood because the interfaces consist partially of metal-to-metal contact and partially of air. The objective of the present study is to develop a new method utilizing an experimental-numerical method for the estimation of the thermal contact resistance between the fin collar and tube surface and to evaluate the factors affecting the thermal contact resistance in a fin-tube heat exchanger. In this study, heat transfer characteristics of actual heat exchanger assemblies have been tested in a vacuum chamber using water as an internal fluid, and a finite difference numerical scheme has been employed to reduce the experimental data for the evaluation of the thermal contact conductance. The present study has been conducted for fin-tube heat exchangers of tube diameter of 7 mm with different tube expansion ratios, fin spacings, and fin types. The results show, with an appropriate error analysis, that these parameters as well as hydrophilic fin coating affect notably the thermal contact conductance. It has been found out that the thermal contact resistance takes fairly large portion of the total thermal resistance in a fin-tube heat exchanger and it turns out that careful consideration is needed in a manufacturing process of heat exchangers to reduce the thermal contact resistance.