Experimental comparison of micro-scaled plate-fins and pin-fins under natural convection

The present work analyses, for the first time, the heat transfer from pin micro-fins. The scope of the present paper is comparing thermal performance of plate micro-fin and pin micro-fin arrays under natural convection conditions in air. Two fin geometries are considered: plate and pin fin arrays with the same thermal exchanging surface are tested. The investigation shows that the pin micro-fins can improve the thermal performance compared to plate micro-fin arrays. Indeed, pin micro-fins are found to have higher heat transfer coefficients and lower thermal resistances, as well as a better material usage. This makes pin micro-fins able to achieve both thermal enhancement and weight reduction than plate micro-fins. The radiative heat transfer is also calculated: a new model to determine the radiative view factors of pin fins is proposed and is used in the analysis. The effect of the orientation is considered as well.