What is a Finned Tube?
Finned Tubes are elongated flat tubes made of aluminum clad carbon steel and fitted with brazed aluminum fins. These tubes are used in series for heat exchangers. The advantage they offer over normal tubes is the greater contact of the fins with the external liquid. This speeds up the heat exchange between the liquid inside the tube and the liquid outside the tube. With normal tubes, the rate of heat transfer will be much slower.
Finned Tubes come in different shapes. They are available in oval, round and flat tubes.
what are they used for?
Finned Tubes are especially useful in the context of air heat exchangers. In an air heat exchanger, heat transfer occurs between a liquid and a gas. Finned tubes can be very helpful due to the lower thermal coefficient on the air side. Finned Tubes increase surface area, which facilitates faster heat transfer between components.
Finned Tube Heat Exchanger Example
Finned tube heat exchangers are used in household appliances and industrial heat exchangers. Finned tube heat exchangers are used in air conditioners and car radiators. The purpose of using Finned Tubes in an air conditioner is to cool the air that passes through it. In a car radiator, it cools the liquid in the tubes through which air passes in cross-flow.
Advantages of using Finned Tubes
Finned Tubes have the following advantages:
Improve heat transfer rate
Fins in Finned Tubes increase the contact surface area. This enables it to speed up the rate of heat transfer.
