Research on Fins for Air Conditioning Heat Exchangers : 1st Report, Numerical Analysis of Heat Transfer on Louvered Fins

Abstract

This study involves to the analysis of fins used in various types of compact heat exchangers for automotive and room air conditioners. Numerical analysis is an effective means of studying fins. However, in the case of louvered fins, it may be inconvenient to handle numerical calculation by means of a finite difference scheme based on ordinary rectangular grids. The numerical analysis method used in this study employs an oblique grid fitting to an inclining fin so that the analysis can be applied to various types of fins. It has been clarified that the visual streamline of flow visualization for louvered fins corresponds to the result of this numerical calculation, and that the pattern of the streamline affects the heat transfer performance of the louvered fins.