Effects of concavity level on heat loss, effectiveness and efficiency of a longitudinal fin exposed to natural convection and radiation

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of concavity level on performance parameters of a parabolic fin under the influences of natural convection and radiation. Design/methodology/approach – Computational fluid dynamics software (FLUENT) is used for the heat transfer analysis. Optimum fin geometry is searched in order to maximize the heat dissipation from fin to the ambient while minimizing the volume of fin. Findings – The fin profile with concavity level of 2 dissipates 14.92, 17.53, 24.33 and 26.60 percent more heat and uses 34.62, 49.64, 57.66 and 63.09 percent much material compared to the fin with concavity level of 4, 6, 8 and 10, respectively. It is also observed that the amount of heat dissipation per mass considerably increases with increasing concaveness. Research limitations/implications – The research was carried out for five different concavity levels in the range of 2-10. Practical implications – The results can be used in passive cooling applications of PV systems. Also, heat sinks for CPU cooling can be redesigned with respect to the results obtained from the research. Originality/value – In this paper, effects of concavity level on performance parameters of a parabolic fin are investigated for the first time. It is observed from the numerical results that the fin profile with higher concavity levels provides a cheaper and lighter heat dissipation device so it is recommended for the applications where the weight and the cost are primary considerations such as cooling of photovoltaics.