Performance of Rectangular Fin in Wet Conditions: Visualization and Wet Fin Efficiency

Abstract

An experimental study concerning the performance of a rectangular fin in both dry and wet condition was carried out. The visual observation of the dehumidifying phenomenon identified four regions, including the fully dry, very fine droplet, larger droplet, and film-like region. Experimental results showed that the effect of dry bulb temperature on the wet fin efficiency is very small. The dry fin efficiency is about 15–25 percent higher than that of the corresponding wet fin efficiency. For fully wet condition, the effect of relative humidity on the fully wet fin efficiency is also small. For partially wet surface, a considerable influence of the relative humidity on the fin efficiency is encountered. Test results for the fully wet fin efficiency agree well with some of the previous studies but disagree with some of the previous investigations. The main cause to this controversy may be attributed to the formulation of the relation between the humidity ratio and the fin temperature. The fully wet fin efficiency decrease slightly with increase of fin base temperature. However, the effect of fin base temperature on the dry fin efficiency is relatively small.