Assessment of Tube–Fin Contact Materials in Heat Exchangers: Guidelines for Simulation and Experiments
This paper describes experiments on finned tube heat exchangers, focusing on reducing the thermal contact resistance at the contact between the pipe and the lamella. Various contact materials, such as solders and adhesives, were investigated. Several methods of establishing contact were tested, incl...
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2024-11-01
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| Series: | Energies |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/22/5681 |
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| author | László Budulski Gábor Loch László Lenkovics Mihály Baumann Balázs Cakó Tamás Zsebe Zoltán Meiszterics Gyula Ferenc Vasvári Boldizsár Kurilla Tamás Bitó Géza György Várady Dávid Csonka |
| author_facet | László Budulski Gábor Loch László Lenkovics Mihály Baumann Balázs Cakó Tamás Zsebe Zoltán Meiszterics Gyula Ferenc Vasvári Boldizsár Kurilla Tamás Bitó Géza György Várady Dávid Csonka |
| author_sort | László Budulski |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper describes experiments on finned tube heat exchangers, focusing on reducing the thermal contact resistance at the contact between the pipe and the lamella. Various contact materials, such as solders and adhesives, were investigated. Several methods of establishing contact were tested, including blowtorch soldering, brazing, and furnace soldering. Thermal camera measurements were carried out to assess the performance of the contact materials. Moreover, finite element analysis was performed to evaluate the contact materials and establish guidelines in the fin–tube connection modeling by comparing simplified models with the realistic model. Blowtorch brazing tests were successful while soldering attempts failed. During the thermographic measurements, reflective surfaces could be measured after applying a thin layer of paint with high emissivity. These measurements did not provide valuable results; thus, the contact materials were assessed using a finite element analysis. The results from the finite element analysis showed that all the inspected contact materials provided better heat transfer than not using a contact material. The heat transfer rate of the tight-fit realistic model was found to be 33.65 for air and 34.9 for the Zn-22Al contact material. This finding could be utilized in developing heat exchangers with higher heat transfer with the same size. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c947c2d7ab4149eaa5d323d43a0ac6af |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1996-1073 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Energies |
| spelling | doaj-art-c947c2d7ab4149eaa5d323d43a0ac6af2025-08-20T02:28:14ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732024-11-011722568110.3390/en17225681Assessment of Tube–Fin Contact Materials in Heat Exchangers: Guidelines for Simulation and ExperimentsLászló Budulski0Gábor Loch1László Lenkovics2Mihály Baumann3Balázs Cakó4Tamás Zsebe5Zoltán Meiszterics6Gyula Ferenc Vasvári7Boldizsár Kurilla8Tamás Bitó9Géza György Várady10Dávid Csonka11Department of Building Services and Building Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Pécs, 7624 Pécs, HungaryDepartment of Building Services and Building Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Pécs, 7624 Pécs, HungaryDepartment of Building Services and Building Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Pécs, 7624 Pécs, HungaryDepartment of Building Services and Building Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Pécs, 7624 Pécs, HungaryDepartment of Building Services and Building Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Pécs, 7624 Pécs, HungaryDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Pécs, 7624 Pécs, HungaryDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Pécs, 7624 Pécs, HungaryDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Pécs, 7624 Pécs, HungaryDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Pécs, 7624 Pécs, HungaryDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Pécs, 7624 Pécs, HungaryAutonomous Technologies and Drones Research Team, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Pécs, 7624 Pécs, HungaryDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Pécs, 7624 Pécs, HungaryThis paper describes experiments on finned tube heat exchangers, focusing on reducing the thermal contact resistance at the contact between the pipe and the lamella. Various contact materials, such as solders and adhesives, were investigated. Several methods of establishing contact were tested, including blowtorch soldering, brazing, and furnace soldering. Thermal camera measurements were carried out to assess the performance of the contact materials. Moreover, finite element analysis was performed to evaluate the contact materials and establish guidelines in the fin–tube connection modeling by comparing simplified models with the realistic model. Blowtorch brazing tests were successful while soldering attempts failed. During the thermographic measurements, reflective surfaces could be measured after applying a thin layer of paint with high emissivity. These measurements did not provide valuable results; thus, the contact materials were assessed using a finite element analysis. The results from the finite element analysis showed that all the inspected contact materials provided better heat transfer than not using a contact material. The heat transfer rate of the tight-fit realistic model was found to be 33.65 for air and 34.9 for the Zn-22Al contact material. This finding could be utilized in developing heat exchangers with higher heat transfer with the same size.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/22/5681heat exchangercontact materialthermal conductivitysolderingbrazingthermal resistance |
| spellingShingle | László Budulski Gábor Loch László Lenkovics Mihály Baumann Balázs Cakó Tamás Zsebe Zoltán Meiszterics Gyula Ferenc Vasvári Boldizsár Kurilla Tamás Bitó Géza György Várady Dávid Csonka Assessment of Tube–Fin Contact Materials in Heat Exchangers: Guidelines for Simulation and Experiments Energies heat exchanger contact material thermal conductivity soldering brazing thermal resistance |
| title | Assessment of Tube–Fin Contact Materials in Heat Exchangers: Guidelines for Simulation and Experiments |
| title_full | Assessment of Tube–Fin Contact Materials in Heat Exchangers: Guidelines for Simulation and Experiments |
| title_fullStr | Assessment of Tube–Fin Contact Materials in Heat Exchangers: Guidelines for Simulation and Experiments |
| title_full_unstemmed | Assessment of Tube–Fin Contact Materials in Heat Exchangers: Guidelines for Simulation and Experiments |
| title_short | Assessment of Tube–Fin Contact Materials in Heat Exchangers: Guidelines for Simulation and Experiments |
| title_sort | assessment of tube fin contact materials in heat exchangers guidelines for simulation and experiments |
| topic | heat exchanger contact material thermal conductivity soldering brazing thermal resistance |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/22/5681 |
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