An approach to optimal fin diameter based on entropy minimization

Pin fin geometries provide a large surface area of heat transfer and reduce the thermal resistance of the package. One of the important features of this type of fins is that they often take less space and contribute less to the weight and cost of the product. Pin fin arrays are used widely in many applications such as gas turbine or electronic circuits cooling, where pin fin geometries use due to their low cost of manufacturing and easy installing. In gas turbine application heat transfer from the blade to the coolant air can be increased by installing pin fins. In fact, Pin fin arrays increase heat transfer by increasing the flow turbulence and surface area of the airfoil exposed to the coolant. The overall performance of a heat exchanger with pin-fin typically depends on a number of parameters including the fin diameter, dimensions of the baseplate and pin-fins, thermal joint resistance and location heat sources. These parameters have an impact on the optimal design of a heat exchanger. Fin diameter is a key parameter to determine overall heat exchanger efficiency and entropy generation. In this paper, our objective is introducing an Equation to calculate optimal fin diameter based on minimizing entropy generation.