Analysis of Heat Transfer in a Heat Exchanger with Triangular Fins Using Finite Element Modeling

Abstract

The influence of radiation and convection on a catalytic reactor's triangular heat exchanger fins are examined. Heat escapes from the surface by radiation and convection having being transported by conduction throughout the fin. Convection and radiation enable the fin's tip to lose heat, whereas the base of the fin is kept at a constant high temperature. One of the walls is taken for consideration because of its symmetry and ease of analysis. In order to determine the temperature and heat transfer rate along the fin, a universal finite difference formulation is devised, utilizing a basic model to account for both forced and free convection as well as radiative heat transfer. In this work, air is used as the cooling medium, and its convection heat transfer coefficient is assumed to varies between (10–150)W/m².K. The findings generated by the ANSYS16 finite element code are compared with the temperature distribution of a reactor's surface, which is predicted using the finite difference proximity. In the case of a forced convection system, radiation can be omitted since temperature profiles of radiation exhibit a variety of features and it becomes apparent that the radiation term has no effect on temperature profiles. Yet in the case of a free convection system, it has a major impact. Yet there is a good agreement between the findings of the numerical solution and the ANSYS Multi-physics results about the validity overall thermal results for both forced and free convection and radiation effects.