Determination of the Heat Transfer Performance of Finned Surfaces Using a Transient Lumped-Capacity Method

This paper presents an analysis and critical appraisal of a ‘lumped-capacity’ method for the determination of the average air-side heat transfer coefficient of a finned-tube heat exchanger geometry.

A simple transient heat transfer experiment is described in which a small finned heat exchanger sample was tested in a wind tunnel. The heat exchanger sample consisted of three rows of staggered flat copper rods within an array of continuous fins of the same material.

Analysis and supporting experimental results, demonstrate the validity of an assumed pseudo-constant fin efficiency thereby justifying the employment of a modified lumped-capacity approach for finned geometries.