Optimized Envelope Shape of Wet Fins for Nonlinear Heat and Mass Transport

Abstract

This study presents an analysis for establishing a method to determine an optimum profile of a fin by minimizing its volume for a given heat transfer duty under wet environments with variable thermal conductivity and heat transfer coefficient. A polynomial relationship between the humidity ratio and temperature for mass transfer is employed for predicting its energy transfer accurately. Both fully and partially wet surfaces were investigated over a wide range of thermopsychrometric parameters according to the suitability of any application. The optimality criteria were derived as a function of temperature-dependent parameters, and optimization was carried out by minimizing the fin volume for a constrained heat transfer rate and design constants. From the result, it can be highlighted that the minimum envelope shape of wet fins is a strong function with the heat transfer coefficient. However, the thermal conductivity effect on the optimized tin shape shows marginally.