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Influence of Alumina Addition to Aluminum Fins for Compact Heat Exchangers Produced by Cold Spray Additive Manufacturing

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Abstract

In this work, aluminum and aluminum-alumina powder mixtures were used to produce pyramidal fin arrays on aluminum substrates using cold spray as an additive manufacturing process. Using aluminum-alumina mixtures instead of pure aluminum powder could be seen as a cost-effective measure, preventing nozzle clogging or the need to use expensive polymer nozzles that wear out rapidly during cold spray. The fin geometries that were produced were observed using a 3D digital microscope to determine the flow passages width and fins' geometric details. Heat transfer and pressure drop tests were carried out using different ranges of appropriate Reynolds numbers for the sought commercial application to compare each fin array and determine the effect of alumina content. It was found that the presence of alumina reduces the fins’ performance when compared to pure aluminum fins but that they were still outperforming traditional fins. Numerical simulations were performed to model the fin arrays and were used to predict the pressure loss in the fin array and compare these results with experimental values. The numerical model opens up new avenues in predicting different applicable operating conditions and other possible fin shapes using the same fin composition, instead of performing costly and time-consuming experiments.

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Abbreviations

\(\Delta P_{\text{fin}}\) :

Fin differential pressure (Pa)

\(\Delta T_{1}\) :

Inlet temperature difference (K)

\(\Delta T_{2}\) :

Outlet temperature difference (K)

\(\Delta T_{\text{lm}}\) :

Log mean temperature difference (K)

\(\eta\) :

Fan efficiency

\(\eta_{\text{f}}\) :

Individual fin efficiency

\(\eta_{\text{o}}\) :

Overall fin efficiency

\(\theta\) :

Pyramid angle (°)

\(\mu\) :

Dynamic viscosity (Pa·s)

\(\rho\) :

Fluid density [kg/m3)

\(A_{\text{f}}\) :

Fin heat transfer area (m2)

\(A_{\text{flow}}\) :

Net flow area (m2)

\(A_{\text{tot}}\) :

Total heat transfer area (m2)

\(B\) :

Base fin length (m)

\(C_{\text{p}}\) :

Fluid specific heat capacity [kJ/(kg·K)]

\(d_{\text{h}}\) :

Hydraulic diameter (m)

\(e_{\text{v}}\) :

Pumping power per unit volume (kW/m3)

\({\text{FD}}\) :

Fin density (fin/m)

\(H\) :

Fin height (m)

\(h\) :

Convection heat transfer coefficient [W/(m2·K)]

\(I_{1}\) :

Bessel function of order one

\(I_{2}\) :

Bessel function of order two

\(k_{\text{m}}\) :

Fin material thermal conductivity (W/(m·K))

\(\dot{m}\) :

Mass flow rate (kg/s)

\(m\) :

Fin heat transfer parameter (m−1)

\(P_{\text{flow}}\) :

Flow perimeter (m)

\(q\) :

Heat flux (W/m2)

\({\text{Re}}_{\text{Dh}}\) :

Reynolds number based on hydraulic diameter

\(R_{\text{eq}}\) :

Equivalent thermal resistance (K/W)

\(S\) :

Space between fin edges (m)

\(T_{\text{in}}\) :

Inlet fluid temperature (K)

\(T_{\text{out}}\) :

Outlet fluid temperature (K)

\({\text{UA}}\) :

Thermal conductance (W/K)

\({\text{UA}}_{\text{V}}\) :

Thermal conductance per unit volume [kW/(m3·K)]

\(V\) :

Volume (m3)

\(\dot{V}_{\text{f}}\) :

Volumetric flow rate (m3/s)

\(W\) :

Channel width (m)

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the MITACS accelerate program for its financial support to this project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada

    Aslan Farjam, Yannick Cormier, Philippe Dupuis & Bertrand Jodoin

  2. Brayton Energy Canada, Gatineau, Canada

    Antoine Corbeil

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  1. Aslan Farjam
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Correspondence to Aslan Farjam.

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Farjam, A., Cormier, Y., Dupuis, P. et al. Influence of Alumina Addition to Aluminum Fins for Compact Heat Exchangers Produced by Cold Spray Additive Manufacturing. J Therm Spray Tech 24, 1256–1268 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11666-015-0305-4

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