Enhancing Surface Heat Transfer Characteristics Using Laser Texturing

Abstract

The use of a pulsed laser system to manufacture parallel streamwise riblets on the plates of a heat exchanger is reported. There are certain laser system elements that can influence the quality of a micrometre texture geometry; among these, there was a focus on laser incubation effect on obtaining greater depth of the riblets. Surface roughness was always considered to keep the heat transfer efficiency high. The heat exchanging process was measured in two flow regimes: laminar and turbulent. In laminar flow, the surface texture slightly deteriorated the heat transfer rate. However, small improvement in the heat transfer rate was observed in turbulent flow.