The main function of automobile heat exchangers is to transfer residual heat from the engine to the open air so as to keep running the engine at its best condition. In order to efficiently transport heat from the heat exchanger to the air, extended surfaces (e.q., fins) are usually provided over the outer surface of the water tube in the heat exchanger.
Moreover, many bent out plate louvers are manufactured on the fin safaces. In order to obtain higher rate of heat transmission in a more compact heat exchanger, many experimental and analytical studies have been carried out up to the present.
However, there are many difficult problems to be resolved so far in finding the obtimum louver profile because of the complexity of air flow around small-scale louver assemblies.
In the present paper, the characteristics of air flow as well as heat flow around louver assemblies are analysed by the numerical analysis code developed at the Central Engineering Laboratory of the Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.