Heat transfer enhancement in hairy fin systems

Heat transfer inside fin systems composed of primary rectangular fins with large number of slender rods attached on their surfaces is modeled and analyzed analytically in this work. The terminology "hairy fin systems" is used to refer to this kind of fin systems. One and two dimensional analyses are employed in the analysis and appropriate performance indicators are evaluated in order to measure the superiority of hairy fin systems over rectangular fins. It is found that hairy fin systems can transfer more heat than rectangular fins under specific conditions. The enhancement in heat transfer through hairy fin systems is found to increase as the rods thermal conductivity increases or as both the rods diameter and main convection coefficient decrease. Moreover, decreasing the rods diameter is found to decrease the sensitivity of the heat flow within the hairy fin systems to the rods thermal conductivity. Finally, the results of this work demonstrate that the increase in heat flow through hairy fin systems is significant enough to allow them to be utilized in the design of thermal systems. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.