Heat transfer from an isothermal vertical surface with adjacent heated horizontal louvers: Validation

The present study examines the influence of heated, horizontal, and rotateable louvers on the convective heat transfer from a heated or cooled vertical isothermal surface. The system represents an irradiated Venetian blind adjacent to the indoor surface of a window. Detailed temperature field and local surface flux data were obtained using a Mach-Zehnder Interferometer for two window temperatures (warm and cool compared to ambient) and irradiation levels, two louver to plate spacings, and three louver angles. The results have been compared to a steady, laminar, two-dimensional, conjugate conduction/convection/radiation finite element model of this problem. The effect of the heated louvers on the heat transfer rate from the plate surface has been demonstrated and the results of the numerical study have been validated.