Using porous fins for heat transfer enhancement

This work introduces a novel method that enhances the heat transfer from a given surface by using porous fins. The thermal performance of porous fins is estimated and compared with that of the conventional solid fins. It is f ound that using porous fin of porosity is an element of may enhance the per formance of an equal size conventional solid fin and, as a result, save 100 is an element of percent of the fin material. The effect of different desi gn and operating parameters on the porous fin thermal performance is invest igated. Examples of these parameters are Ra number, Da number, and thermal conductivity ratio. It is found that more enhancement in the porous fin per formance may be achieved as Ra increases especially at large Da numbers. Al so, it is found that there is an optimum limit for the thermal conductivity ratio beyond which there is no farther improvement in the fin performance.