Improved correlations of the thermal-hydraulic performance of large size multi-louvered fin arrays for condensers of high power electronic component cooling by numerical simulation

In view of a good thermal performance of the multi-louvered fin arrays, it is intended to introduce the special fin structure into the design of condensers for high power electricity converter cooling on the CRH (China Railway High-speed) trains in order to improve the security of normal running for the high-speed trains. The geometrical size of the multi-louvered fin arrays needed for the high power condensers is relatively larger than that of the conventional louvered fin arrays and the flow state within the large size multi-louvered fin arrays is different as well, with the Reynolds numbers based on the louver pitch over the range of 2850–11,000 in the present study. Flow and heat transfer characteristics of the large size multi-louvered fin arrays with various structural parameters are numerically simulated using Large Eddy Simulation (LES). More reasonable parameters correlated with the thermal-hydraulic performance of the large size multi-louvered fin arrays are identified compared to the conventional characteristic parameters employed in the published work. Finally, improved correlations for the Fanning friction f factor and the Colburn-j factor representing the flow and heat transfer characteristics, respectively, are put forward in terms of the identified parameters with special interval bounds for the condenser design of high power electronic cooling.