Air-Side Heat Transfer Coefficient

Air-Side Heat Transfer Coefficient
Air-Side Heat Transfer Coefficient

 To reduce the growth of BL, the following means are commonly used:
 Making the surface discontinuous.
 Holes, slits or louvers are added to the surface to initiate
 Air flows over the outside surface of the Radiator tubes and formation of short and thin BL, rather than a single long and
the fins. thick BL.
 The purpose of the fins is to allow sufficient heat transfer  Due to this disruption, the turbulence within the boundary layer
surface area for the air to take away more heat from the hot causes the airflow to periodically separate and re-attach, which
coolant. limits any growth in BL thickness.
 Air-to-coolant heat transfer via tube and fin surfaces is a  Louvers can give 3 to 4 times more heat transfer coefficient
boundary-layer (BL) problem. There are two boundary layers, compared to a plain fin.
viscous BL and thermal BL.
 Also, louvering increases the friction factor and hence increases
 Heat transfer is higher when the BL the airside pressure drop. This then increases the undesired air
thickness is smaller. pumping power.
"The lecture presentations and slides are provided for educational purposes in this course. No part of them should "The lecture presentations and slides are provided for educational purposes in this course. No part of them should
be shared outside of the Blackboard Learn-University of Windsor platform." be shared outside of the Blackboard Learn-University of Windsor platform."
Slide # 1
Slide # 2
Air-Side Heat Transfer Coefficient Air-Side Heat Transfer Coefficient

 Like the coolant-side, the airside heat transfer coefficient can also The Nusselt number is related to the Stanton, Prandtl, and
be quantified through the non-dimensional heat transfer coefficient, Reynolds numbers as follows by definition :
i.e. the airside Nusselt number (Nu) for simple and plain non-fin HEX
using available correlations of the form, Nu = f (Re, Pr) = x Rey.Prz. Nu= St. Re. Pr
 But for finned tube radiator geometries, the hc is deduced, Hence, irrespective of the flow passage geometry, boundary
generally, from either of the dimensionless parameters, the Stanton condition, flow types, and so on the above relation is always valid.
Number (St) or the Colburn Factor (j) with respect to a given
Reynolds Number (Re). Furthermore,  Nu 
St c   
The Stanton Number (St) is defined as:  Re Pr  c
 h   h
Fluid Convective H.T. Coefficient  The Colburn factor (j) is a modified Stanton number to take
St c   
  V c   G c
Fluid Heat Capacity Rate
 into account the moderate variations in the fluid Prandtl
 p c  p c number (representing different fluids).
Where, G is a quantity known as the Mass Velocity. It is
It is defined as:
widely used in heat exchanger analysis and is defined as
 Nu 
G  Vmax 
m 
jc  St Pr
2
3
 c
 1 
 Re Pr 3  c
for 0.5  Pr  10
Amin
Slide # 3 Slide # 4
 The airside Friction Factor (f ) can be calculated from the core  And the required fluid Pumping Power is:
pressure drop of the radiator as follows:
mΔp GAc   As G 2  As G 3

fc  
Δp D 
. h Pc    . f  f
 (  V ) / (2) 4 L  c
2
     Ac 2   2 2
 Once either of the f or  P
The airside characteristic length, that is the D h  4 L.
Ac
and the geometric parameters
hydraulic diameter, Dh, is defined as follows: As
are known or derived, the St
as well as the j for a given Re
where can be estimated from any
Ac = Minimum free flow cross-sectional area at airside available chart like the one as
given in RHS Fig.
As = Total airside surface area (wetted perimeter)
From the above
p = Airflow pressure drop across the radiator core relationships, the airside
L = Airflow length (ie. Length of HEX in air flow direction) heat transfer coefficient,
HEX performance as airside f and
hc can be determined.
St vs. airside Re
Slide # 5 Slide # 6
1
 Air-side Fouling – affects the radiator performance. When designing any type of radiator, it is essential
to have an adequate airflow through the radiator.
 Automotive HEX/radiator faces a variety of operating
environments throughout its life. As it is difficult for air to pass through a thick
 HEX/radiator fins shall be protected from road hazards, radiator there must be a sense of balance between the
splash, stones, sand/gravel or any dirt build-up to ensure number of fins per inch and amount of air is allowed to
optimal performance.
flow through the radiator. Otherwise, the cooling
HEXs – Requirements for Fin density: ability of the radiator will greatly be reduced.
 A fin density of 16 to 18 fins per inch is about normal The amount of airflow allowed through the radiator is
for the average 2-row radiators.
determined by the density of the radiator (tube design,
 The number of fins per inch should be reduced if the
radiator core becomes thicker. For a 4-row radiators arrangement, and closeness of fins) and the pressure
the fin count should be reduced to about 12 fins per drop between the front and back of the radiator.
inch (0.004 - 0.008 inch thick).
Slide # 7 Slide # 8

Sometimes, the pressure buildup in front of a thick  From wind tunnel testing for radiator applications,
radiator gets to a point where no matter how fast the car it was found that the airflow through the radiator is
is driven, it will not be able to get anymore airflow equivalent to about 30 to 40% of the vehicle speed,
through the radiator. depending on the thickness of the radiator.
In addition, the air flowing from outside into the engine  When the speed of a car is 100 mph (~160 km/h) on
compartment must have some kind of exit path in order to the highway, the airflow through the front of the
keep the pressure from building up under the hood. radiator is not 100 mph.
If there is no exit path, then no matter how big the Due to the pressure drop caused by the restricted
radiator is, it can not overcome the overheating problems. airflow through the radiator core, the effect on the
front of the radiator is equal to about 40 mph (64 km/h).
A 2-row radiator with a poor airflow exit can backup as
much air as a 4-row radiator can with a good exit. The Large p means either large flow or large resistance
pressure difference would still be the same.
Slide # 9 Slide # 10
Example Example
A vehicle is running at 90 Soln.:

km/h. The atmospheric air at
27C enters and flows through
its radiator. The radiator is a  First we evaluate the thermo physical properties of
compact HEX, whose matrix is
shown RHS in Figure. The approach air @ 1 atm and 27C ( 300K):
following data is available for
the radiator configuration: Density,  = 1.177 kg / m3
length of the HEX matrix is,
Lc = 0.06 m; airside hydraulic Dynamic viscosity,  = 1.85 x 10-5 kg / m.s
diameter, Dh,c = 0.3633 cm; Specific heat @ const. Pressure, cp = 1005 J / kg-C
and the ratio of the minimum
free-flow area to the frontal Prandtl number, Pr = 0.712 -
area, Ac,c/Afr,c = c = 0.534.
Calculate the airside heat Kakac S, Liu H. Heat Exchangers-Selection, Rating and Thermal Design, 2nd edn. CRC Press, 2002.
Thermal conductivity, k = 0.0261 W / m-C
transfer coefficient, hc, and Circular tube-fin Radiator matrix with
the airside pressure drop, p,c. necessary f -j vs Re chart
2
Example Example
 The mass velocity of air can be calculated as,

 As the vehicle speed is 90 km/h, the air will enter
 m    Afr V 
the radiator at a lesser speed than this (as discussed in Gc      
 Ac  c  Ac c Eq. (1)
earlier lecture, generally 30 to 40% of the vehicle
 
speed).  V 
 

 Let us assume that the air is approaching the  Ac 
 A 
radiator core @ 40% of the vehicle speed.  fr c
  V 
 
 The air inlet velocity is thus,   c
1.117 x 10

V   90 x 1000  /  60 x 60   x  40 /100  0.534
 10 m/s kg
 22.04
m 2 -s
Example Example
 Now, the Stanton number (St) can be estimated from j-

 The airside Reynolds number to be calculated as follows,
Factor relationship as follows,
 GDh 
Re c  
Eq. (2)
  c

jc   St.Pr  2
3
c
Eq. (3)
22.04 x 0.3633
 
1.85 x 10 -5
 4, 328  j 
St c   2 
 Pr 3  c
 Now @ Rec = 4328, from Figure of Example above, we 0.0058

can obtain the required Colburn “j” Factor, which is found
2
(0.712) 3
to be, j = 0.0058  7.274 x 10 -3
Example Example
 From the definition of Stanton number (St), we can  Again from Figure of Example above, @ Re = 4,328, we
obtain the airside heat transfer coefficient, hc, as follows: can obtain the Friction Factor, f = 0.0225.
 h   Now we will determine the airside pressure drop (p)

St c    Eq. (4)
Gc
 p c
across HEX as follows:

 4L G 2 
hc   St.G .cp  Δ pc   f  Eq. (5)
c  Dh 2   c
 (7.274 x 10 ) x (22.04) x (1005)
-3
4 x 0.06 (22.04) 2
 (0.0225). .
W (0.3633 / 100) 2 x (1.177)
 161.12 [ Ans. ]
m 2 - C  306.72 Pa [ Ans. ]
3
Condenser
Air-Side Heat
andTransfer
Evaporator
Coefficient
A precise prediction of the airside heat transfer

coefficient when air flows over finned tubes are
complicated, because the value is a function of geometric
factors, e.g. the fin spacing, the spacing and diameter of
tubes, and the number of rows of tubes deep.
A rough estimate of the airside coefficient hf is:

h f  38V 0.5
Where, V is the face velocity in m/s.
"The lecture presentations and slides are provided for educational purposes in this course. No part of them should
be shared outside of the Blackboard Learn-University of Windsor platform."
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Air-Side Heat Transfer Coefficient

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Air-Side Heat Transfer Coefficient

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Air-Side Heat Transfer Coefficient

Air-Side Heat Transfer Coefficient

Air-Side Heat Transfer Coefficient Air-Side Heat Transfer Coefficient

Air-Side Heat Transfer Coefficient Air-Side Heat Transfer Coefficient

Air-Side Heat Transfer Coefficient Air-Side Heat Transfer Coefficient

A vehicle is running at 90 Soln.:

 The mass velocity of air can be calculated as,

 Now, the Stanton number (St) can be estimated from j-

 h   Now we will determine the airside pressure drop (p)

A precise prediction of the airside heat transfer

A rough estimate of the airside coefficient hf is:

Where, V is the face velocity in m/s.

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