Enhancement of fin efficiency of a solid wire fin by oscillating heat pipe under forced convection

• Solid metal wire fin of a wire-on-tube heat exchanger was replaced with oscillating heat pipe fin.
• Thermal performance of the proposed heat exchanger was investigated.
• Fin efficiency of the oscillating heat pipe fin was higher than the conventional fin around 5%.
• Effect of geometrical parameters on fin efficiency was investigated.
• Fin efficiency model was developed.

Enhancement of fin efficiency of solid wire fin in a wire-on-tube heat exchanger under forced convection was examined. The solid wire fin was replaced with an oscillating heat pipe filled with R123. The unit was tested in a wind tunnel by exchanging heat between hot water flowing inside the tube and the air stream flowing across the external surface. The results showed that the fin efficiency for the case of oscillating heat pipe fin was higher than that of the conventional fin around 5% depended on the mass flow rate of air stream and the geometrical parameters of heat exchanger surface. Moreover, the model of fin efficiency was developed and the results agreed well with the experimental data.