Numerical simulation to evaluate the thermal performance of engine cylinder Fins: Effect of fin geometry and fin material

• Main Authors: Sonawane, Chandrakant R, Rath, Pratyush, Vats, Nishant, Patekar, Shreyas, Verma, Prakhar, Pandey, Anand
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aluminum alloy; Engine fin; IC engine; Simulation; Thermal analysis
• ISSN: 2214-7853; 2214-7853
• DOI: 10.1016/j.matpr.2021.07.416

The engine is the most important part of an automobile and it is necessary to keep it in working condition for all kinds of temperature conditions. The heat generated inside the combustion chamber needs to be removed to protect the engine from thermal damages and breakdown, in the same instance it is also necessary to make sure that it holds the temperature at an optimal requirement for combustion to take place. The cooling efficiency of the fins is subjected to many factors such as the wind velocity, ambient temperature, fin geometry, material of the fin, and the exposed surface area. Although few parameters cannot be controlled, the engine manufacturer intends to manipulate all possible factors, like fin thickness, fin geometry, and fin orientation to attain a desirable outcome. In this paper numerical simulation of the finned cylinder is presented to improve the heat dissipation rate of an engine. The model is prepared using Autodesk Fusion 360 whereas ANSYS is used to conduct steady-state thermal analysis. Numerical simulations are carried out for two different fin materials: Aluminum alloy 204 and 6061. The effect of fin geometry with varying fin thickness, pitch as well as orientation is also analyzed and a detailed comparison for temperature distribution, total heat flux is presented. Our numerical results show that Aluminum alloy 6061 performed better than the existing configuration with significant improvements in both, heat transfer as well as in power to weight ratio.