Performance of the herringbone wavy fin under dehumidifying conditions

An experimental study reporting the airside performance of the herringbone wavy fin geometry in wet conditions is conducted. In the visualization of the condensate flow pattern, a very special “locally dry” spot of the corrugation wavy channel having a corrugation angle of 15° and a fin spacing of 8.4 mm is seen. This phenomenon is related to the recirculation of the airflow across the apex. Conversely, this phenomenon is not so clearly seen either for a fin pitch of 2.6 mm with a corrugation angle of 15° or a corrugation angle of 25°. Flow visualization of the non-uniform distribution of the condensation in the facets results in a dependence between axial length and friction factor. Based on the present test results, airside performance in terms of Nusselt number and Fanning friction factor for the present herringbone wavy fin geometry in wet conditions are developed. The mean deviations of the proposed correlations are 2.52% and 4.81%, respectively.