Applied Thermal Engineering 27 (2007) 20332043 www.elsevier.

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Parametric studies on automotive radiators

C. Oliet, A. Oliva *, J. Castro, C.D. Perez-Segarra
` ` ` Centre Tecnologic de Transferencia de Calor (CTTC), Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC), ETSEIAT, Colom 11, 08222 Terrassa (Barcelona), Spain Received 24 February 2006; accepted 8 December 2006 Available online 10 January 2007

Abstract This paper presents a set of parametric studies performed on automotive radiators by means of a detailed rating and design heat exchanger model developed by the authors. This numerical tool has been previously veried and validated using a wide experimental data bank. A rst part of the analysis focuses on the inuence of working conditions on both uids (mass ows, inlet temperatures) and the impact of the selected coolant uid. Following these studies, the inuence of some geometrical parameters is analysed (n pitch, louver angle) as well as the importance of coolant ow lay-out on the radiator global performance. This work provides an overall behaviour report of automobile radiators working at usual range of operating conditions, while signicant knowledge-based design conclusions have also been reported. The results show the utility of this numerical model as a rating and design tool for heat exchangers manufacturers, being a reasonable compromise between classic e NTU methods and CFD. 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Fin-and-tube heat exchangers; Parametric studies; Automotive radiators; Engine cooling

1. Introduction The automotive industry is continuously involved in a strong competitive career to obtain the best automobile design in multiple aspects (performance, fuel consumption, aesthetics, safety, etc.). The air-cooled heat exchangers found in a vehicle (radiator, AC condenser and evaporator, charge air cooler, etc.) have an important role in its weight and also in the design of its front-end module, which also has a strong impact on the car aerodynamic behaviour. Looking at these challenges, an optimisation process is mandatory to obtain the best design compromise between performance, size/shape and weight. This optimisation objective demands advanced design tools that can indicate not only the better solution but also the fundamental reason of a performance improvement. Some previous references were found with experimental analysis of the thermal and uid-dynamic behaviour of
*

Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 937 398 192; fax: +34 937 398 101. E-mail address: cttc@cttc.upc.edu (A. Oliva). URL: http://www.cttc.upc.edu (A. Oliva).

automotive radiators. Lin et al. [1] presented an interesting study of specic dissipation (SD) sensibility to radiator boundary conditions (air and coolant inlet temperatures and mass ows). Their conclusions were assessed by numerical and experimental work. Juger and Crook [2] reported an experimental testing on two radiators of the same ow area but with the tubes in vertical or horizontal position, therefore studying the inuence of tube length vs. number of parallel tubes. They carried out this analysis for three dierent coolant uids. Gollin and Bjork [3] experimentally compared the performance of ve commercial radiators working with water and ve aqueous glycol mixtures. Chen et al. [4] experimentally analysed a sample radiator and developed regression equations of heat dissipation rate, coolant pressure drop and air pressure drop in function of the boundary conditions. Ganga Charyulu et al. [5] presented a numerical analysis (based on e NTU method) of a radiator in a diesel engine, centring the attention on the inuence of n and tube materials and the boundary conditions on both uids. This paper presents a set of parametric studies performed on automotive radiators by means of a detailed

1359-4311/$ - see front matter 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2006.12.006

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Nomenclature A cp CV f Fp g h I L Langle _ m p _ Q Re S SD t T U U0 v heat transfer surface, m2 specic heat at constant pressure, J kg1 K1 control volume Fanning friction factor, dimensionless n pitch, mm gravity, m s2 specic enthalpy, J kg1 1 pass ow arrangement length, m louver angle, deg mass ow, kg s1 pressure, N m2 heat transfer rate, W Reynolds number based on hydraulic diameter, dimensionless ow section, m2 _ Q specic dissipation (T l;in T a;in , W K1 time, s temperature, C 2 pass ow arrangement overall heat transfer coecient based on air-side surface, W m2 K1 velocity, m s1 V x, y, z volume, m3 Cartesian co-ordinate directions

Greek symbols a heat transfer coecient, W m2 K1 g n eciency, dimensionless q density, kg m3 s shear stress, N m2 / inclination angle, deg Supera b by D F i, j, k l lm O T 0 and subscripts air base bypass destination node n grid level for x, y, z directions liquid/coolant logarithmic mean origin node tube previous time step time or volume averaged value

rating and design heat exchanger model developed by the authors (CHESS, Compact Heat Exchanger Simulation Software) [68]. This numerical tool has been previously veried and validated using a wide experimental data bank [9]. The approach is oriented to computationally characterise the full heat exchanger including air and liquid side inuences on overall performance (cooling capacity and pressure drops). The paper is structured in a rst part where the modelling technique and formulation are briey summarised. After that, the test case description and the results obtained from the parametric studies (working conditions, geometry) are presented.

linear coupled equation system, which resolution provides detailed three-dimensional velocity, pressure, and temperature maps for both uids and temperature maps for the solid structure. The coupling between both uids and the solid elements is done in a global segregated transient resolution algorithm (see e.g. [10]). In the following, the mathematical formulation is briey described providing the corresponding discretised equations of the air, the ns, the tubes, and the coolant. The local empirical information (heat transfer coecients, friction factors, pressure drop through singularities) and the thermo-physical properties that have been used on the air and coolant side modelling are also presented in detail.

2. Mathematical formulation and numerical model 2.1. Air ow The proposed numerical strategy to develop this heat exchanger model is essentially based on a discretisation around the tubes as small heat exchangers (Fig. 1). Each macro control volume receives inlet conditions on both ow streams from the boundaries or from the adjacent macro control volumes. An important feature is the multi-dimensional heat conduction analysis along the tubes and ns, providing a complete coupling all over the heat exchanger core. Over these macro control volumes, the conservation equations of mass, momentum and energy are applied on both ow streams and the energy equation on the solid elements. The previous analysis results in an algebraic nonEqs. (1)(3) show the fully implicit discretised governing equations for each air macro control volume. The ow is considered one-dimensional (uniform inlet/outlet velocity proles). Potential and kinetic energy increments are considered not relevant. Radiative heat transfer is also considered negligible. Subscripts indicating air (a) and node (i, j, k) are dropped out for convenience. Subindexes O and D indicate origin and destination sections (co-ordinate direction) of the considered node (i, j, k) (in this case the co_ ordinate direction coincides with the ow direction). QaTF refers to the heat transfer from the air to the solid walls (tubes and ns)

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Fig. 1. Discretisation strategy for at tube/corrugated n automotive radiators: macro-control volume concept.

  q q0 _ _ V mD mO 0 Dt v  v q q00 _ _ V mD vD mO vO Dt  pO pD S A qVgx s h  h  0 p p q q0 0 _ _ _ V V mD hD mO hO QaTF : Dt Dt 2.2. Fins

gFb

_ _ QFb;j1 QFb;j1 : aa T a T T AF

2.3. Tubes 2 3 The energy conservation equation is applied over the tube element for each macro control volume (discretised form in Eq. (6)), considering thermal interactions with the surrounding sets of ns, the air and coolant ows, and the neighbour tube control volumes. The temperature of the tube is supposed to be uniform in axis and peripheral directions for each element. Heat conduction from the set of ns associated to a tube element is obtained directly from n simulation values for each macro control volume. Heat convection from the air and coolant ows is determined by the use of the corresponding local heat transfer coecients and temperatures at each time step and iteration. Subscripts indicating tube (T) and node (i, j, k) are dropped out for convenience qp c T T0 _ _ _ _ _ V Qi;j;k1 Qi;j;k1 QFb QaT Ql : Dt 6

The n conduction equation and the convective heat transfer with the surrounding air ow have been introduced by using fundamental heat transfer procedures, considering a negligible temperature variation through the n thickness and that both the air temperature and the heat transfer coecient are uniform over the n surface of each control volume. The ns have been considered as longitudinal with constant rectangular cross-section. The presence of louvers is not considered at this stage because of the high thermal conductivity of the materials involved and the fact that louvers are aligned to main heat transfer conduction direction (transverse to air ow). The general expressions for a longitudinal n with isothermal boundaries are applied to the macro control volume strategy formulated in the model. Heat transfer from the air to the n surface is introduced by means of the airn eciency (gaF) in the air energy conservation equation, while the heat transfer through the n bases is determined by the nbase eciency (gFb) in the tube energy conservation equation. The calculation of these eciencies is briey shown in Eqs. (4) and (5), where j indicates the control volume height indexing. gaF _ _ QaF;j1 QaF;j1 aa T a T T AF 4

2.4. Liquid/coolant The mass, momentum and energy balances for the intube or in-manifold coolant ow are presented in discretised form in Eqs. (7)(9), considering incompressible uid. The ow is considered one-dimensional in each section (mean cross-section velocity values). Radiative heat transfer is considered negligible. The kinetic and potential terms are considered negligible in the accumulative term. Coolantsolid interactions (local heat transfer coecients and friction factors) are obtained from the technical literature. Subscripts indicating liquid (l) and node (i, j, k) are dropped out for convenience. Subscripts O and D indicate origin

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and destination in the co-ordinate direction (not necessarily ow direction) of the considered node (i, j, k); in fact, the velocity or the mass ow can be either positive or negative depending on the ow direction (from O to D and vice versa) _ _ _ mO mD m  vv v v  jj A g sin /qV V pO pD S f q q 2 Dt 0  0  p p h h _ q V V mhD hO g sin /L Dt Dt aT T T A: 2.5. Empirical inputs The empirical information used for the modelling of airside heat transfer and pressure drop through enhanced nand-tube surfaces has been obtained from the technical literature. This information, given in a non-dimensional form, is a complete summary of basic heat transfer surfaces behaviour considering a wide range of ow conditions and geometrical parameters, being independent of the particular heat exchanger under study (no ad hoc correction factors have been implemented). For the air-side, the correlation developed by Achaichia and Cowell [11] for louver n geometries has been used both for heat transfer and pressure drop. For at tubes in the range of automotive applications, Garimella et al. [13] have published a correlation that details the heat transfer performance at high laminar and transition ow regimes. For turbulent ow, Gnielinski [14] equation has been used as the most capable of predicting heat transfer at relatively low turbulent Reynolds regimes. Churchill [15] correlation has been introduced to calculate friction factors. Previous validation studies [9] on the same baseline heat exchanger under analysis in this paper (18 tests) have reported a mean dierence (numerical vs. experimental) of 3.37% on heat transfer values, a mean discrepancy of 8.42% for air pressure drop, and a mean dierence of 8.09% for liquid pressure drop. Refer to Oliet et al. [9] for more details and other tested geometries/conditions. 2.6. Thermo-physical properties For the dry air, the specic heat has been obtained from Eckert and Drake [16], while its dynamic viscosity and thermal conductivity from Hilsenrath et al. [17]. For water vapour, these three properties plus the specic enthalpy have been obtained from NIST STEAM Database [18]. The density of the moist air mixture has been evaluated using perfect gas relations, the specic heat and the enthalpy using ideal mixture relations, while the dynamic viscosity and the thermal conductivity have been calculated using the specic mixture relations recommended by NASA reports [19,20]. The properties of glycol mixtures have been evaluated using the values provided by ASH0

RAE [21], while Furukawa [22] expressions have been used for pure water. For the solid elements, Eckert and Drake [16] values have been implemented. 3. Test case description The parametric studies presented in this paper have been performed on a louvered radiator that has been experimentally tested in detail for a wide range of working conditions. The corresponding baseline geometry is indicated in Table 1, while the baseline working conditions are presented in Table 2. The 5 5 air/coolant ow matrix is maintained in each parametric study in order to generate the corresponding performance map (see Fig. 2), from which comparison data between dierent options can be easily extracted. The performance map is primarily conceived to summarise the thermal capacity of a given radiator and temperature conditions depending on both air and coolant mass ows. Interesting variations of the basic map are those where the thermal capacity is substituted by the overall heat transfer coecient or the specic dissipation rate, or where the mass ows are replaced by pumping power, pressure drop or ow regime values. All numerical tests have been conducted using an axial grid of 20 CV and a convergence criteria of 1.0e5 to close a pseudo-transient resolution process. Both values have been obtained from previous work on the verication of the numerical solutions provided by the heat exchanger model [8].

7 8

Table 1 Baseline geometry description of the automobile radiator under study Core depth (mm) Core height (mm) Core length (mm) Circuiting (passes) Rows Total tubes Tube dimensions (mm) Tube thickness (mm) Tube pitch (mm) Fin pitch (mm) Fin thickness (mm) Louver angle () Louver pitch (mm) 23 133 184 I 1 12 22 2.1 0.32 10.40 1.19 0.1 26 0.9

Table 2 Baseline working conditions for the automobile radiator under study Air inlet temperature (C) Air inlet humidity (%) Air mass ow (kg/s) Coolant uid Coolant inlet temperature (C) Coolant mass ow (kg/h) 25 50 0.08/0.14/0.21/0.28/0.40 Water/ethylene glycol (50%) 95.0 500/1000/1500/2000/2500

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Fig. 2. Performance maps obtained for a parametric study (n pitch, Fp, in this case). On the left, heat transfer dependence on air and coolant ow rates. On the right, overall enhancement vs. air and coolant ow regimes.

12 11 10

Cooling capacity [kW]

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0.1

Cooling capacity [kW]

ml=500 kg/h ml=1000 kg/h ml=1500 kg/h ml=2000 kg/h ml=2500 kg/h

12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

ma=0.080 kg/s ma=0.140 kg/s ma=0.210 kg/s ma=0.280 kg/s ma=0.400 kg/s

0.2

Air flow, ma [kg/s]

1000

0.3

0.4

500

1000

1500

Coolant flow, ml [kg/h]

40000

2000

2500

3000

800

Coolant pressure drop [Pa]

Air pressure drop [Pa]

ml=500 kg/h ml=1000 kg/h ml=1500 kg/h ml=2000 kg/h ml=2500 kg/h

30000

ma=0.080 kg/s ma=0.140 kg/s ma=0.210 kg/s ma=0.280 kg/s ma=0.400 kg/s

600

20000

400

10000

200

0.1

0.2

Air flow, ma [kg/s]

0.3

0.4

500

1000

1500

Coolant flow, ml [kg/h]

2000

2500

3000

Fig. 3. Air and coolant mass ow inuence on the thermal and uid-dynamic performance of the automotive radiator.

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4. Parametric studies The rst part of these studies focuses on the inuence of working conditions on both uids (mass ows, inlet temperatures, coolant uid). After that, the inuence of some geometrical parameters is analysed (n pitch, louver angle) as well as the importance of coolant ow lay-out on the radiator performance. Signicant knowledge-based design conclusions have been reported. Where appropriate, the results are presented using non-dimensional ow parameters (Reynolds numbers) and overall heat exchanger parameters (overall heat transfer coecient) to show general trends independent of the particular testing condition. 4.1. Air and coolant mass ow inuence The heat transfer and uid-dynamic performance of an automotive radiator is strongly dependent on both thermal uids mass ow. This study shows the behaviour of the selected radiator over a wide ow range, while maintaining

the geometry and the temperature levels at the baseline situation. Fig. 3 shows how the cooling capacity increases with both air and coolant ow, although its derivative decreases monotonically. The curves show typically a stronger dependency on air mass ow because air has usually the highest thermal resistance. The same gure introduces the air and coolant pressure drop dependency on mass ow, reecting the expected quadratic behaviour. 4.2. Air inlet temperature inuence As being one of the most important restrictions in an air-cooled system, the air inlet temperature inuence is here analysed in detail. The maximum coolant ow (2500 kg/h) has been selected in order to improve the visualisation of the eects on the air-side, while this situation would also have the highest heat transfer rates. The thermal and uid-dynamic behaviour of the radiator is presented in Fig. 4 for the two limiting air ows (0.08 and 0.40 kg/s) for a range from 0 to 40 C. As

16 14

ma = 0.08 kg/s ma = 0.40 kg/s

300

ma = 0.08 kg/s ma = 0.40 kg/s

250

Cooling capacity [kW]

12 200 10 8 6 4 50 2 0 0

Uo [W/m K]

150

100

20

40
o

20

40
o

Air inlet temperature [ C]

90

Air inlet temperature [ C]

100

80

ma = 0.08 kg/s ma = 0.40 kg/s

ma = 0.08 kg/s ma = 0.40 kg/s

1000 980 960 940

95

Air pressure drop [Pa]

70

Tlm [ C]

90

920 900

60

50

85

880 860

40

80 30 75 0 20 40
o

840 820 0 10 20 30 40 800

20

Air inlet temperature [ C]

Air inlet temperature [oC]

Fig. 4. Air inlet temperature inuence on the thermal and uid-dynamic performance of the studied radiator ml 2500 kg=h. _

Air pressure drop [Pa]

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expected, the heat transfer rate clearly decreases with air inlet temperature rise, as the cooling temperature dierence is being reduced. It is interesting to point out the small inuence of the air inlet temperature on the overall heat transfer coecient. Therefore, a mean value can be used within a range of air temperature inlet conditions with acceptable accuracy, saving costs and time. The impact on air pressure drop reveals as moderate for this case. 4.3. Coolant uid inuence The selection of a particular coolant uid is dependent on the environmental conditions of a certain country or region, while toxicity restrictions are also limiting in some applications. The proposed radiator is analysed working with seven dierent thermal uids: water, ethylene glycol and propylene glycol aqueous solutions at 30%, 40% and 50% (referred to as eti30, eti40, eti50 and prop30, prop40, prop50, respectively). The attention is centred on the highest air ow situation (0.40 kg/s). Fig. 5 depicts the inuence

of the coolant uid on both the thermal and uid-dynamic radiator response. The impact on the cooling capacity and the overall heat transfer coecient is notable; water is the best solution (as expected), while ethylene glycol and propylene glycol report similar values (with a small advantage for ethylene glycol) for the same water content. This overall trend agrees with the conclusions reported by the experimental work of Gollin and Bjork [3] performed on ve commercial radiators. If the overall heat transfer coecient is plotted against the coolant mean ow regime the dierences almost disappear, what provides an interesting feature in order to save costs and time in the design process. For this radiator, the inuence of the coolant uid seems to have little impact on the overall coolant pressure drop. After investigation of this result, the conclusion is that the relative inuence of the manifolds and specially of the inlet/outlet nozzles overshadows the pressure drop dierences observed in the radiator core. A detailed observation of the local in-tube results has outlined the better hydraulic behaviour of water, while the propylene glycol mixture

12

35000

ma = 0.40 kg/s
eti30 eti40 eti50 prop30 prop40 prop50 water

10

Coolant pressure drop [Pa]

30000

Cooling capacity [kW]

25000

20000

ma = 0.40 kg/s
6 eti30 eti40 eti50 prop30 prop40 prop50 water 500 1000 1500 2000 2500

15000

10000

5000

Coolant flow, ml [kg/h]

300 300

500

1000

1500

Coolant flow, ml [kg/h]

2000

2500

250

250

U o [W/m2K]

U o [W/m2K]

200

200

150

ma = 0.40 kg/s
eti30 eti40 eti50 prop30 prop40 prop50 water 500 1000

150

ma = 0.40 kg/s
eti30 eti40 eti50 prop30 prop40 prop50 water 5000 10000 15000

100

100

50

Coolant flow, ml [kg/h]

1500

2000

2500

50

Coolant Re [-]

_ Fig. 5. Coolant uid inuence on the thermal and uid-dynamic performance of the automotive radiator ma 0:40 kg=s.

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shows slightly higher pressure drop than its ethylene glycol counterpart. These overall trends again coincide with the conclusions reported by Gollin and Bjork [3]. 4.4. Fin pitch inuence Fin pitch is one of the most important design parameters in this kind of heat exchangers, because its great inuence on the global heat transfer rate of the equipment and its easy industrial implementation. Fin pitches from 0.6 to 2.4 mm have been considered. Heat transfer and pressure drop results are presented (Fig. 6) for a better understanding of the global thermal and hydraulic heat exchanger performance. In this case UA has been taken as the enhancement parameter because the heat transfer surface strongly depends on n pitch (for other studies the overall heat transfer coecient has been considered). The results are provided for the highest coolant ow (2500 kg/h).

The inuence of both the ow rate and the n pitch on the heat transfer and pressure drop is clearly shown. As expected, smaller n spacings imply higher heat transfer capacity and air pressure drop at xed air ow rate. As a performance evaluation criterion, the comparison between heat transfer and air pumping power indicates that the best design solution could depend on the needed compactness or the available pumping power/ow area. 4.5. Louver angle inuence The louver angle has also been selected as a relevant parameter on the enhancement mechanisms involved in a louvered automotive radiator. Values from 15 to 35 have been considered. The heat transfer and pressure drop dependence on this parameter is shown in Fig. 7. The higher the louver angle is, the higher heat transfer rate and pressure drop. As a performance evaluation criterion,

ml = 2500 kg/h
14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0

Cooling capacity [kW]

Fp = 0.6 mm Fp = 0.9 mm Fp = 1.2 mm Fp = 1.8 mm Fp = 2.4 mm

300

ml = 2500 kg/h
Fp = 0.6 mm Fp = 0.9 mm Fp = 1.2 mm Fp = 1.8 mm Fp = 2.4 mm

250

200

UA [W/K]

150

100

50

0.1

Air flow, m

0.2

0.3

0.4

1000

2000

3000

4000

[kg/s] a

Air Re [-]

2000

ml = 2500 kg/h
Fp = 0.6 mm Fp = 0.9 mm Fp = 1.2 mm Fp = 1.8 mm Fp = 2.4 mm

16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2

Air pressure drop [Pa]

1000

Cooling capacity [kW]

1500

ml = 2500 kg/h
Fp = 0.6 mm Fp = 0.9 mm Fp = 1.2 mm Fp = 1.8 mm Fp = 2.4 mm
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

500

0.1

0.2

Air flow, ma [kg/s]

0.3

0.4

0 -0.2

Air pumping power [kW]

_ Fig. 6. Fin spacing inuence on the thermal and uid-dynamic behaviour of the analysed heat exchanger ml 2500 kg=h.

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250 10

2041

Cooling capacity [kW]

200 8

U o [W/m2K]

150

m = 2500 kg/h
l

ml = 2500 kg/h
100

Langle = 15 Langle = 20 Langle = 25 Langle = 30 Langle = 35

0.1

Langle = 15 Langle = 20 Langle = 25 Langle = 30 Langle = 35

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000

Air flow, m

0.2

0.3

0.4

50

[kg/s]

Air Re [-]

ml = 2500 kg/h
1000

800

Air pressure drop [Pa]

Cooling capacity [kW]

Langle = 15 Langle = 20 Langle = 25 Langle = 30 Langle = 35

10

600

400

ml = 2500 kg/h
Langle = 15 Langle = 20 Langle = 25 Langle = 30 Langle = 35
0 0.1 0.2 0.3

200

0.1

Air flow, m

0.2

0.3

0.4

[kg/s]

Air pumping power [kW]

_ Fig. 7. Louver angle inuence on the thermal and uid-dynamic behaviour of the analysed heat exchanger ml 2500 kg=h.

the comparison between heat transfer and air pumping power indicates that the best design solution could depend on the needed compactness or the available pumping power/ow area. 4.6. Coolant ow lay-out inuence In this section, the computational tool is used to carry out coolant ow conguration studies on the automotive radiator. The coupling between radiators and the rest of the engine cooling circuit (engine core, liquid pump, etc.) imposes important restrictions to the available coolant mass ow and acceptable pressure drop of the radiators. The proposed radiator has been studied under ve liquid ow arrangements: 1 pass (I), 2 passes (U), 2 passes with bypass of dierent diameters: 3, 5 and 7 mm (Uby-3, Uby-5, Uby-7). Bypasses are perforated on the separation wall between passes located inside the inlet/outlet mani-

fold, and have been used in the automotive industry in order to nd U congurations with lower coolant pressure drop values. The nozzles pressure drop has been minimised because they should be adapted to each case to get reasonable coolant velocities, thus determining the tube diameters independently of the radiator core ow lay-out. Fig. 8 shows the coolant lay-out inuence on the heat transfer rate and coolant pressure drop, for the highest air ow value. As can be seen, even though the air-side is the limiting thermal resistance in this kind of heat exchangers, the coolant conditions can play an important role in the maximum heat transfer rate situations (at maximum air ow, minimum air thermal resistance). The calculations show that the overall heat transfer coecient signicantly depends on the ow arrangement and the coolant ow rate. However, this behaviour is almost invariant when plotted against the coolant in-tube mean ow regime (Fig. 8). As seen in the same gure, the coolant pressure drop is much higher for the U-ow lay-out than for the I-ow

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300

10

250

Cooling capacity [kW]

200
2

U o [W/m K]

150

ma = 0.40 kg/s
I U Uby-3 Uby-5 Uby-7
500 1000

100

ma = 0.40 kg/s
I U Uby-3 Uby-5 Uby-7
2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000

50

Coolant flow, m [kg/h]

l

1500

2000

2500

Coolant Re [-]

ma = 0.40 kg/s
60000

Coolant pressure drop [Pa]

40000

Cooling capacity [kW]

I U Uby-3 Uby-5 Uby-7

12

10

20000

ma = 0.40 kg/s
I U Uby-3 Uby-5 Uby-7
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04

6 0

500

1000

Coolant flow, ml [kg/h]

1500

2000

2500

Coolant pumping power [kW]

Fig. 8. Coolant lay-out inuence on the thermal and uid-dynamic performance of the automotive radiator ma 0:40 kg=s. _

conguration. Here the role of U-bypass as intermediate solution is again clearly reported. Interesting design conclusions can be achieved looking at the cooling capacity dependence on coolant pumping power. This picture shows a small superiority of the I-ow lay-out up to certain values of cooling capacity, while if higher heat transfer is desired for the same mass ow range, the U-ow is mandatory to increase the in-tube ow regime. Therefore, if the coolant ow rate is limited, the U ow solution (or their bypassed alternatives) would be a better selection to get certain heat transfer levels. 5. Conclusions A complete set of numerical parametric studies on automotive radiators has been presented in detail in this paper, analysing the inuence of those parameters on the full thermal and hydraulic behaviour of the heat exchanger. The calculations have been carried out by a well veried and

validated detailed rating and design heat exchanger model developed by the authors and based on the discretisation of the whole radiator into a set of control volumes around the tubes. The corresponding mathematical formulation has been briey described within the paper. A rst part of the parametric studies has been focused on the inuence of working conditions on both uids (mass ows, inlet temperatures) and the impact of the selected coolant uid. Following these studies, the inuence of some geometrical parameters has been analysed (n spacing, louver angle) as well as the importance of coolant ow lay-out on the radiator global performance. This work provides a detailed example of the overall behaviour report of an automobile radiator working at usual range of operating conditions. Signicant knowledge-based design conclusions have also been reported: (i) the overall heat transfer coecient reveals almost independent of the air inlet temperature; (ii) the overall heat transfer coecient essentially depends on the coolant ow regime (Re number) when coolant uid

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or coolant ow arrangement are varied; (iii) nozzles pressure drop can overshadow the impact of a parameter on the core coolant pressure drop; (iv) the cooling capacity vs. the pumping power reveals as a powerful comparison criterion for this kind of studies; (v) the I-ow coolant arrangement is generally better than U-ow, if the achieved ow regime is considered acceptable. The paper also shows the utility of this numerical model as a rating and design tool for heat exchangers manufacturers, being a reasonable compromise between classic e NTU methods and CFDrelated tools. Acknowledgements The authors express their gratitude to Radiadores ` Ordonez, S.A., and specially to Mr. Josep Sudria and Mr. Roberto Ordonez, for their prolonged research collab oration and for providing valuable information. This work has been partially funded by the Comision Interministerial a, Spain (Project TIC2003-07970). de Ciencia y Tecnolog References

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