Louvered fin compact heat exchanger: a comprehensive review

Compact heat exchangers have an area density of about 700 m(2)/m(3). In compact heat exchangers, fins are used to enhance the thermal performance. Various type of fins in terms of their form (such as plate fin, wavy fin, slit fin and louvered fin) are used. Investigations have revealed that, among the available fins, louvered fins provide the most encouraging thermal hydraulic performance. Louvered fins encompass different geometric parameters, which influence the performance of the compact heat exchanger. The optimal values of these geometric and operating parameters improve the thermal performance of the compact heat exchanger as well as lower the associated pressure drop. This paper presents a comprehensive review on louvered fin compact heat exchangers to understand the effects of flow parameters and various geometric parameters, such as louvere angle, louvere length, louvere pitch, flow depth, fin pitch and fin thickness, on the performance of the heat exchangers. Various louvered fin geometries and their heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics are also examined.