Study on structural parameter selection and performance of serrated fin radiator in crawler vehicle

For serrated fin radiator used in crawler vehicles, optimization of structural parameters of fin incision length and fin spacing was carried out. Performance evaluation criteria (PEC) for heat transfer enhancement with same power consumption were used to evaluate heat transfer performances of the radiators with different fin incision lengths and fin spacing. It can be known from the result that the exchanger of the best heat transfer performance has fin incision length of 4 mm and fin spacing of 2 mm. The samples of heat exchangers having fin incision length of 4 mm with fin spacing of 1.5 mm, 2.0 mm and 2.5 mm were made based on the simulation result, and the performances were tested in a wind tunnel experimental system. The test results are very close to the simulation with errors less than 10%. Correlations of the heat transfer and friction factor of the three radiators were obtained in a wide range of Reynolds number by experiment data. The effect of water-side flow rate on air-side heat transfer performance was also analyzed.