Experimental study on heat transfer enhancement in the vertical nature convection by using delta‐winglet longitudinal vortex generators

Abstract This paper focuses on the study of heat transfer enhancement in natural vertical convection by using delta‐winglet longitudinal vortex generators. In the experimental range of Rayleigh numbers, the effect of attack angle, height, and width of the winglet of longitudinal vortex generator (LVG) on heat transfer performance was experimentally investigated. The results showed that there was an optimal attack angle and that the height and width can affect the heat transfer. In terms of array performance, it was shown that initial arrays could enhance the performance of later arrays. Moreover, the effects of LVG and low rectangular fins were compared. The results showed that the effect of LVGs was greater than that of low rectangular fins. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 35(6): 402–409, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20126