Key
2252
Conference Year
2014
Keywords
spine fin, heat exchanger, evaporator
Abstract
An Offset Spine Fin Spine (segmented) fin coils have been used in certain applications as a result of their effective use of coil material. One can improve coil heat transfer performance by adding more fins per inch (FPI). This comes at the expense of air side pressure drop, which requires more fan energy to achieve the same air flow. When this type of fin is used in an evaporator, there is a secondary penalty associated with the fan heat that must be removed by the refrigeration system. Also, the tighter fin spacing is less tolerant to frost growth that can block air flow over time. The current research focuses on a new configuration that nearly doubles the surface area of the fins, yet has similar fin spacing. Performance is evaluated using one inch sections of the tube and fins. The air side pressure drop is measured and thermal performance is evaluated using a transient thermal imaging technique. The pressure drop and thermal performance results are used to simulate performance in a household refrigerator and show that there is a 2-3% improvement in the overall system energy consumption.
Enhanced Heat Exchanger with an Offset Spine Fin Design