Experimental investigation of thermal performance of aluminum finned heat exchangers and open-cell aluminum foam heat exchangers

In this study six heat exchangers were experimentally investigated; three of them were aluminum foam heat exchangers and the other three were aluminum fin heat exchangers. The open cell aluminum foam heat exchangers were of PPI 10, 20, 30 features and dimensions of 200×200×100mm. The aluminum fin heat exchangers were of the same dimensions as the open cell aluminum heat exchangers and with fin intervals of 1.6, 3.2, 4.8mm. By using experimental data, variations of effectiveness versus velocity, pressure loss versus velocity, friction factor versus Reynolds number and Reynolds number versus Nusselt number have been investigated. The Reynolds number used in the tests was at around 5×103-9×104. It was found that, for both types of heat exchangers, as the velocity of refrigerant increases, the effectiveness drops and pressure loss increases. The effectiveness was higher at lower Reynolds numbers. It was found that aluminum fin heat exchangers transfer much more heat than their aluminum foam counter parts. © 2011 Elsevier Inc.