Internal Finned Heat Exchangers: Thermal and Hydraulic Performance Review

This article presents an in-depth analysis of internally finned tube heat exchangers, which are used in a broad variety of condensers and evaporators for air conditioners, as well as radiators for vehicles and solar air heaters, amongst other places. The growing need for cooling systems that are more efficient and heat exchangers that take up less space has inspired many studies in this area of expertise. This research uses both experimental and computational analysis to compare and contrast the efficacy of various heat transfer enhancement processes in internally finned tube heat exchangers concerning the impacts they each have and the operating parameters they each need. This study aims to investigate how altering the fins' design affects heat transfer and pressure drop under varying operational situations. This paper examines the ranges in which these correlations have been verified, as several correlations have been created to assist in estimating heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics on internally finned tube heat exchangers. This study extensively delves into various analytical approaches such as Log Mean Temperature Difference (LMTD), Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Finite Element Analysis (FEA), and other methodologies specifically tailored to address the unique goals of the particular problem. To derive a conclusion with practical significance, we categorize these relationships into multiple groups and conduct a comparative analysis.