Experimental Investigation of Thermal and Hydraulic Performance of V Shape Corrugated Carbon Foam

Abstract

In aircooled heat exchangers, airside thermal resistance is usually the largest compared to conduction and liquidside thermal resistances. Thus, reducing the airside thermal resistance can greatly improve overall cooling performance. The performance of an aircooled heat exchanger is usually characterized by the rate of heat which can be transferred and the pumping power required to convect the heat away. This paper presents a method of utilizing Vshape corrugated carbon foam to improve thermal performance. The airside heat transfer coefficient and the pressure drop across the foam have been investigated using different Vshape foam geometrical configurations obtained by varying its length and height. Based on design considerations and availability, the foam length has been chosen to be 25.4, 38.1, and 52.1 mm, while its height is 4.4, 6.8, and 11.7 mm, resulting in nine different test pieces of foam with different heights and lengths. A total number of 81 experiments were carried out with different air face velocities (0.79m/s) and heat fluxes at the heater surface (0.52W/cm2). The pressure drop across the Vshape corrugated carbon foam as well as inlet air, exit air, foam, and ambient temperatures were measured. Of the nine Vshape configurations, the foam with the shortest length and tallest height gives the best performance. The present results are also compared with the results of prior work using different carbon foam geometries. It is shown that Vshape corrugated carbon foam provides better heat transfer coefficient and the overall performance.