International Journal of Refrigeration 88 (2018) 16–23

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International Journal of Refrigeration

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijrefrig

Design and analysis of multi-scale annular fins attached to a pin fin

M.R. Hajmohammadi
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, 158754413, Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The design of efficient fins for reducing cost, space, materials and the energy consumption for heat re-
Received 3 August 2017 moval and refrigeration applications is a great challenge. In this paper, consideration is given to the con-
Revised 6 November 2017
structal (optimal) design of multi-scale annular fins that are attached to a pin fin. The geometrical scales
Accepted 25 November 2017
of the assembly are relaxed to reach the maximal heat transfer removed by the assembly of the fins,
Available online 5 December 2017
subject to the space and materials constraints. Based on a one-dimensional model, analytical solution is
Keywords: performed to deliver the amount of heat transfer density. The direct search method and the Genetic Al-
Annular fin gorithm (GA) are used to optimize the geometric configuration of the assembly. The optimization results
Pin fin indicate that the increment in the number of geometrical variables of the assembly remarkably enhances
Constructal design the thermal performance of the assembly, however, it imposes excess complexity in the optimization pro-
Optimization cess. The design guidelines for the design of multi-scale fins provided after optimizations, can be useful
Thermal performance
in the design of variant cooling devices in practical engineering applications.
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction the T-shaped cavities is superior to the I-shaped cavities in reduc-

Constructal design, i.e., generation of the best geometric ‘con-
structs’ for improving engineering systems was first highlighted by
Bejan and Lorente (2006), Zamfirescu and Bejan (2005) and Bejan
(2003). Today, constructal theory and constructal design are well-
known words in terms of multi-scale optimization of flow systems
with the least loss and dissipation. Due to its generality and appli-
cability to natural and engineering systems, many configurations
have been evolved and optimized by the inspiration of constructal
design. Examples are heat exchangers (Sommers et al., 2012), Solar
chimneys (Vieira et al., 2017), gas-turbine blade (Feng et al., 2015),
thermoelectric power packages (Bejan et al., 2014) and electronic
cooling (Hazarika et al., 2017, Rubio-Jimenez et al., 2016, Adewumi
et al., 2013). However, a majority of engineering flow systems that
benefits form constructal design, is categorized in ‘volume-point”
heat conduction systems, such as highly conductive routes, cavities
and fins.
Cavities, or the ‘inverted’ outside-in version of the fins are pen-
etrated into a heat generating medium and cools down its hot
spot temperature to prevent its failure. Since they have been pro-
posed, many configurations have been evolved and proposed. For
Example, ‘I-shaped’ and ‘T-shaped’ configuration of a cavity was
proposed by Biserni et al. (2004), to minimize the hot spot tem-
perature of a heat generating piece, by optimizing the geometri-
cal paramours of the cavities. They reached to the conclusion that
E-mail address: Hajmohammadi@aut.ac.ir
ing the hot spot temperature. Subsequent researches by Lorenzini
et al. (2011), Lorenzini and Rocha (2009a), Lorenzini et al. (2014),
Rocha et al. (2010) and Hajmohammadi et al. (2013) revealed that
yet, there exist several configurations that exhibit desirable ther-
mal performance. For example, Lorenzini and Rocha (2009a) in-
dicated that the T-shaped and the I-shaped configurations can be
combined to produce a T–Y shaped configuration that is superior
that each of the T-shaped and the I-shaped patterns.
In the same manner, several configurations of highly conductive
routes embedded in a heat generating medium were optimized
and introduced in the open literature (Wei et al., 2009; Lorenzini
et al., 2013; Hajmohammadi et al., 2014). For instance, X-shaped
highly conductive routes optimized by Lorenzini et al. (2013) are
found to show drastic thermal performance.
Fins (extended surfaces) are extensively used to enhance the
rate of heat transfer between a solid and a fluid stream. Many
research studies have been performed to optimize the fins. The
optimization objective is to maximize the heat transfer density re-
moved by the fin, by varying several dimensions of the fins as-
sembly, subject to total volume and fin-material constraints. Bejan
and Almogbel (20 0 0), for the first time, performed a geomet-
ric (constructal) optimization of T-shaped assemblies of plate fins
and cylindrical fins. They indicated that every geometric feature
of the assembly is achieved by the optimization principle and
the constraints. More evolved versions of the T-shaped assembly,
such as the tau-shaped assembly, and the umbrella-shaped struc-
tures containing cylindrical fins, are investigated and optimized
in the same manner. Later, many contributions as listed in Refs.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2017.11.032
0140-7007/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.
 M.R. Hajmohammadi / International Journal of Refrigeration 88 (2018) 16–23
Nomenclature
a nondimensionalized parameter, Eq. (4)
D diameter, [m]
h heat transfer coefficient [W m−2 K−1 ]
I modified Bessel function of the first kind
K modified Bessel function of the second kind
L length, [m]
n number of annular fins
q heat transfer rate, [W]
T local temperature, [K]
t thickness, [m]
V volume, [m3 ]
Greeks symbols
φ volume fraction of the fins, Eq. (1)
λ thermal conductivity [W m−1 K−1 ]
Subscripts
an annular part
o optimal
pn pin part
∞ free stream
Superscripts
^ nondimensionalized variables
Lorenzini and Rocha (2006), Lorenzini and Rocha (2009b),
Almogbel and Bejan (20 0 0), Almogbel (20 05), Yang et al. (2016),
Hazarika et al. (2016), Bhanja and Kundu (2011), Pashah et al.
(2017) and Feng et al. (2017) were defined relying on the achieve-
ments reported by Bejan and Almogbel (20 0 0). For example, us-
ing constructal design, Lorenzini and Rocha (2006) presented and
optimized a Y-shaped plate fins and indicated that the inclined
wings of the new pattern improves the previous configuration, i.e.,
the T-shaped pattern. Later, they confined the T-shaped and the
Y-shaped fins to generate a new pattern called the T–Y-shaped
assembly of plate fins (Lorenzini and Rocha, 2006; Lorenzini and
Rocha, 2009b). They claimed that the proposed configuration per-
forms better that the T-shaped and Y-shaped fins. A tree-like as-
sembly of fins are introduced by Almogbel and Bejan (20 0 0) and
Almogbel (2005). The geometry of the tree-shaped assembly is op-
timized by maximizing the global conductance subject to the con-
straints of total volume and total amount of fin materials. They
concluded that the optimized configuration with tapered fins have
relatively better thermal performance, but nearly the same ex-
ternal and internal aspect ratios. Yang et al. (2016) employed fi-
nite volume method to perform a numerical optimization of cylin-
drical pin-fins configuration. Maximization of dimensionless heat
transfer rate was considered as the objective for fixed total heat
sink volume and fixed amount of fin materials. They concluded
that the optimized distribution of the cylindrical fin heat sinks
remarkably enhanced the thermal-hydrodynamical performance of
the system. Using an analytical model based on the Differential
Transform Method and Adomian Decomposition Method, an opti-
mum design parameters of a wet T-shaped fin by considering tem-
perature dependent thermal conductivity of the fin material and
convective heat transfer coefficient, are delivered by Hazarika et
al. (2016). Bhanja and Kundu (2011), followed the similar problem
and presented the constructal design of a T-shaped porous fin with
taking radiation effects into account. Heat transfer enhancements
by an orthotropic material annular fins subjected to dehumidifying
operating conditions are investigated by Pashah et al. (2017), us-
ing two-dimensional finite element method and one-dimensional
model. They indicated that there exists an optimum geometry that
maximizes the thermal performance of the fin.
17
In the refrigeration and cooling applications (such as refriger-
ation and cooling systems in houses, cars, airplanes and aircrafts,
circuitry devices and computer CPU heatsink), it is critical to fa-
cilitate the heat exchange between the refringent (or the coolant)
and the area to be cooled. As mentioned in the above literature
review, fins (extended surfaces) are found efficient tools to speed
up the heat exchange. For instance, by installing the fins in the
area to be cooled, the process of heat extraction to the evapora-
tor is facilitated when the cold liquid refrigerant enters the evapo-
rator and cools the tubing (or the plates) and the fins. The more
popular is the air-cooled condensers with fins, where high rate
of heat exchange occur between the vapored refrigerant and the
outside environment. However, the excess space and the excess
weight imposed by the fins assembly are major concerns. There-
fore, in the refrigeration and cooling applications where the space
and the weight of the whole systems are limited (constrained), it
is important to design a fin with minimum space and weight. In
other words, it is important to design a fin with maximum heat
transfer rate, in a given space. For instance, wet fins (applied in
refrigeration systems with condensation in the area to be cooled)
are designed to reach maximum heat transfer rate in a given space
by Hazarika et al. (2016), Bhanja and Kundu (2011) and Pashah
et al. (2017). However, it must be noted that the effectiveness and
the efficiency of the fins are remarkably higher in dry environ-
ments (with no condensation) where the heat transfer coefficient
is lower compared to the phase change heat transfer (Incropera
et al., 2007). Therefore, in this paper, consideration is given to-
ward the optimal design of a dry fins assembly (used in environ-
ment with no condensation) subjected to space and weigh con-
straints. The fins assembly is consisted of multi-scale annular fins
attached to a pin fin. The optimization objective is to maximize
the heat transfer rate, removed by the assembly of fins. A one-
dimensional analytical solution is presented to render the temper-
ature field within the fins assembly. A big picture of how the stud-
ied assembly of fins evolves to become more efficient, is provided
by relaxing (varying) all geometrical parameters of the configura-
tion. The results obtained in this paper can provide some theoret-
ical guidelines for the design of fins assemblies in practical engi-
neering systems.
2. Description of the physical system
The geometric definition of an annular pin fins assembly is de-
picted in Fig. 1. The assembly is consisted of an annular fin with
outer diameter D1 , inner diameter D0 and thickness t1 connected
to a solid pin fin with diameter D0 and length L1 . The isotropic
materials of the annular and the pin parts are the same, with con-
stant thermal conductivity λ. The root section of the fins assembly
is maintained at a constant temperature T0 , while the surrounding
faces of the fin are exposed to a cold environment of temperature
T∞ and heat transfer coefficient h. The heat current, is removed
through the finned surfaces and transferred into the environment
by the convection. For the sake of simplicity, radiation mechanism
is neglected, the heat transfer coefficient is considered uniform and
constant over all the exposed surfaces and all the joints are as-
sumed in the absence of contact resistance.
While the temperature of environment and the root section are
known, the heat transfer rate by the fins assembly varies from
one geometry to another. To deliver the heat transfer by the fin
assembly, qf as a function of fins geometry, a one-dimensional
formulation is established. To accomplish this, the following non-
dimensional parameters are defined,
T − T∞
Tˆ = (1)
T0 − T∞
18 M.R. Hajmohammadi / International Journal of Refrigeration 88 (2018) 16–23

Fig. 1. Geometrical description of the annular fin connected to a pin fin.

non-dimensional parameters and a. Therefore, the total (non-

(L, D, t ) dimensional) heat current removed from the root section of the
(Lˆ, Dˆ , tˆ) = 1
(2) fins assembly, qˆ f , that is the optimization objective, can now be
V3
established as,
q
qˆ = (3) 3  
π λV (T0 − T∞ )
1 1 ˆ 2
3 √ D a √ 1 tˆ
qˆ f = √ 2 2 0
 cosh 2Dˆ −0 2 a(Lˆ1 + 1 )
 sinh
−
2Dˆ 0
1
2 ˆ
a(Lˆ1 + t21 )
2
1
2hV 3 ⎧
a= (4) ⎪
λ ⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ √ −1 1 √ 
Where V, is the total volume occupied by the fins assembly, ⎪
⎨ 2 2Dˆ 0 2 Lˆ12 sinh
−1
2Dˆ 0 2 a(Lˆ1 + tˆ1
)
2
V = π D21 (L1 + t1 ) and T, is temperature. Note the use of V 3 as the
1
−    
⎪
⎪ −1 −1 −1 −1
K1 ( 12 Dˆ 0 tˆ1 2 a )I1 12 (Dˆ 1 + tˆ1 )tˆ1 2 a − I1 ( 12 Dˆ 0 tˆ1 2 a )K1 12 (Dˆ 1 + tˆ1 )tˆ1 2 a
length scale in the nondimensionalization of the length dimen- ⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪    
sions. ⎪
⎩ K0 ( 1 Dˆ 0 tˆ− 12 a )I1 1 (Dˆ 1 + tˆ1 )tˆ− 12 a − I0 ( 1 Dˆ 0 tˆ− 12 a )K1 1 (Dˆ 1 + tˆ1 )tˆ− 12 a
2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1

 −1 
3. Model and solution √ − 1 tˆ1
+ cosh 2Dˆ 0 2 a(Lˆ1 + ) (8)
2
The one-dimensional model uses the thermal resistance in each
part of the assembly (pin part and the annular part) and invokes Eq. (8) provides the relation between the optimization objec-
the continuity of temperature and heat current at the junction of
tive, qˆ f , and the design parameters, Dˆ 0 , Dˆ 1 , tˆ1 and Lˆ1 . Only two of
the two parts. According the previously mentioned assumptions,
the heat current in the two elemental parts follows the below clas- the foregoing design parameters are free to vary, because of the
sical relation, volume and materials (weight) constraints, respectively expressed
1
as follows,
qˆan = Dˆ 0 tˆ12 aTˆ1 π ˆ2 ˆ ˆ
    D1 ( L1 + t1 ) = 1 (9)
−1 −1 −1 −1 4
(
K1 12 Dˆ 0 tˆ1 2 a )I1 1
2 ( )
Dˆ 1 + tˆ1 Lˆ1 2 a − (
I1 12 Dˆ 0 tˆ1 2 a )K1 1
2 ( )
Dˆ 1 + tˆ1 tˆ1 2 a
×     π ˆ2ˆ
−1 −1 −1 −1 (D0 L1 + Dˆ 21tˆ1 ) = ϕ (10)
(
K0 12 Dˆ 0 tˆ1 2 a )I1 1
2 (Dˆ 1 + tˆ1 )tˆ1 2 a − (
I0 12 Dˆ 0 tˆ1 2 a )K1 1
2 (Dˆ 1 + tˆ1 )tˆ1 2 a 4
where, φ , is the fins assembly volume fraction.
(5) A same procedure could be repeated to establish a relation be-
   tween qˆ f , and the design parameters in a multi-scale assembly of
3 √ −1 tˆ1 fins consisting of n annular fins shown in Fig. 2. The result can be
1 ˆ2
√ D a 1 − Tˆ1 cosh 2Dˆ 0 2 a(Lˆ1 + 2 )
2 2 0
expressed as a recursive equation,
qˆ pn =   (6)
√ −1 tˆ1
sinh 2Dˆ 0 2 a(Lˆ1 + ) B2n
2
qˆ f,n = An − (11)
An + Cn + qˆ f,n−1
where qˆan is the (on-dimensional) heat current entering the annular part,
and qˆ pn is the heat current leaving the pin part, Tˆ1 is the non-dimensional where, qˆ f,n is defined as the total (non-dimensional) heat current
temperature at the junction (shown in Fig. 1), Im and Km are the modified removed from the root section of the fins assembly consisting of n
Bessel functions of the first and second kind, respectively of order m. The annular fins such that it can be obtained by Eq. (8). In addition,
remaining equations accounts for the heat current continuity at the junction, 3
1 ˆ2
√ D a
qˆan = qˆ pn (7) An = √ 2 2 0
1
  (12)
− tˆn +tˆn+1
Combining the Eqs. (5)–(7) delivers the non-dimensional tem- tanh 2Dˆ 0 2 a Lˆn + 2
perature at the junction, Tˆ1 , as a function of the geometrical
 M.R. Hajmohammadi / International Journal of Refrigeration 88 (2018) 16–23 19

Fig. 2. Multi-scale annular fins connected to a pin fin.

Lˆ1
Fig. 4. First level of optimization results. (a) Optimal values of and (b) the cor-
Dˆ 1
responding dimensionless heat transfer.

An
Bn = √ 1
  (13)
− tˆn +tˆn+1
cosh 2Dˆ 0 2 a Lˆn + 2

1 K1 (αn )I1 (βn ) − I1 (αn )K1 (βn )

Cn = aDˆ 0 tˆn2 (14)
K0 (αn )I1 (βn ) − I0 (αn )K1 (βn )

1 −1 1 −1
αn = aDˆ 0 tˆn 2 , βn = atˆn 2 (Dˆ n + tˆn ),
2 2
 
√ −1 ˆ
t + tˆn−1
γ = 2Dˆ 0 2 a Lˆn +
n
(15)
2

where the geometrical parameters, Dn , tn and Ln are defined in

Fig. 2. The volume and materials (weight) constraints, respectively,
are expressed as follows,

π 
n
max (Dˆ 1 , Dˆ 2 , . . . , Dˆ n )2 (Lˆ j + tˆ1 ) = 1 (16)
4
j=1

Lˆ1
Fig. 3. Effects of on the dimensionless heat transfer removed by the fin for sev-
Dˆ 1
π
n
eral Dˆ 1
. (Dˆ 20 Lˆ j + Dˆ 2j tˆj ) = φ (17)
Dˆ 0 4
j=1
20 M.R. Hajmohammadi / International Journal of Refrigeration 88 (2018) 16–23

Fig. 5. Second (final) level of optimization results for a wide range of fins volume Fig. 6. Second (final) level of optimization results for a wide range of the physical
fraction, φ . (a) and (b) Optimal geometrical parameters and (c) maximized dimen- parameter, a defined in Eq. (4). (a) and (b) Optimal geometrical parameters and (c)
sionless heat transfer. maximized dimensionless heat transfer.

It is worthy to note that the one-dimensional model used (Ahn, 2006) by means of MATLAB Optimization Toolbox (“MATLAB
in this study is valid when the Biot number criterion is (20 0 0), User’s Guide, Version 6.0.088, Release 12, The Mathworks
satisfied (Bejan, 1993), Inc., Natick, MA.,” n.d.) is applied to deliver the optimization re-
 sults. The GA algorithm applies the principles of genetics and nat-
a dˆ << 1; dˆ = max(tˆ1 , Dˆ 0 ) (18) ural selection, and is useful for multivariable problems. It requires
the definition of the objective function, the number of degrees of
In the optimization process for a single annular fin assembly freedoms used in the problem, the variables and the constraints.
(n = 1) shown in Fig. 1, the two independent design parameters Further, the algorithm parameters such as the crossover rate, mu-
Lˆ1 Dˆ 1
are considered as and . In this case, an exhaustive search tation rate, stopping conditions and the initial population with a
Dˆ 1 Dˆ 0
method is applied to deliver the optimization results. To accom- defined size must be determined. In this study, the GA parameters
plish this, optimization is performed at two levels. In the first are determined based on De Jong (1990) settings, that are standard
Lˆ1 for the vast majority of GA applications.
level, the heat current, qˆ f is maximized with respect to for
Dˆ 1 The results are presented in the next section for a wide range
a wide range of
Dˆ 1
. In the second level, the heat current, qˆ f is of a and φ values, that are consistent with practical values. For
Dˆ 0
instance, h is in order of magnitude 100 W/m2 K, λ is in or-
Lˆ1 Dˆ 1 1
maximized twice, i.e., with respect to and , to give a config- der of magnitude 100 W/m K for fins materials and V 3 is about
Dˆ 1 Dˆ 0
uration closest to the optimal situation. Following a step-by-step 1 cm, that implied the parameter ‘a’ is in order of magnitude
procedure describe above, provides a big picture of how the fins 0.1. The selected value is based on the dimensional values used
assembly evolves to become better and better. However, for the in the previous similar works, e.g. by Almogbel and Bejan (20 0 0)
multi-structure assembly shown in Fig. 2 (n > 1), the number of and Almogbel (2005). In general, the (forced or natural) convection
design parameters grows up and therefore, Genetic Algorithm (GA) heat transfer coefficient (for gases or liquids), h, ranges from 2 to
 M.R. Hajmohammadi / International Journal of Refrigeration 88 (2018) 16–23 21

Fig. 7. Some optimal configurations obtained in Figs. 5 and 7, when the number of annular fins, n = 1.

Fig. 8. Optimal configurations when n = 2.

monotonic change in the maximum (peak) of qˆ f . As it is observed,

Dˆ 1 Dˆ Dˆ 1
reducing the magnitude of from ˆ 1 = 10 to = 6, the maxi-
Dˆ 0 D0 Dˆ 0
mum (peak) of qˆ f is monotonically enhanced, however, by changing
Dˆ 1 Dˆ Dˆ 1
the magnitude of from ˆ 1 = 6 to = 4 the maximum of qˆ f is
Dˆ 0 D0 Dˆ 0
Dˆ 1
lowered. This means that there exists an optimum value for in
Dˆ 0
Lˆ1
addition to , and also, it explains why the curve pertaining to
Dˆ 1
Dˆ 1
= 4 intersects the other curves.
Dˆ 0
Dˆ 1
For a wide range of , Fig. 4 is constructed to show the opti-
Dˆ 0
Lˆ1 Lˆ1
mal value of
Dˆ 1
(observed in Fig. 3), namely, ),
Dˆ 1 o
and the corre-
sponding maximized qˆ f and several values of φ when a = 0.1. The
Lˆ1
results shown in this figure confirm that, as well as , there ex-
Dˆ 1
Dˆ 1
ists an optimal value of that maximizes qˆ f . In the same manner,
Dˆ 0
Dˆ 1 Dˆ 1
the optimal value of
Dˆ 0
in Fig. 4 is indicated by ),
Dˆ 0 o
and the corre-
Lˆ1 Lˆ
sponding value of
Dˆ 1
) is indicated by ˆ1
D1
) . These optimal values,
Fig. 9. Effects of the number of annular fins, n, on the dimensionless heat transfer. o oo
together with the corresponding (double maximized) qˆ f are sum-
marized in Fig. 5 for a wide range of φ and several values of a. This
10,0 0 0 W m−2 K−1 (Incropera et al., 2007). Therefore, for the sake figure indicated the effect of φ on the optimization results. For in-
of generalization, the final optimization results are presented for a stance, for the entire sets of a shown in Fig. 5a, it is seen that
Dˆ 1
wide range of parameter ‘a’ from 0.01 to 1. ) decreases monotonically by increasing φ . It implies that for
Dˆ 0 o
an optimal assembly with low amount of materials (low weight),
4. Results
the annular part diameter must be designed considerably larger in
value compared with the pin part diameter. On the other hand, the
Fig. 3 displays the variations of the heat current, qˆ f with re-
optimization of assemblies with high amount of materials (high
Lˆ1
spect to the variations of the first design parameter of the an- weight), dictates that the annular part diameter must be in order
Dˆ 1
nular pin fin assembly shown in Fig. 1. The figure is constructed for of magnitude of the pin part diameter. Note the asymptotic situ-
Dˆ 1
several values of the second design parameter,
Dˆ 1
, when φ = 0.1 ation
Dˆ 0
) → ∞ when φ → 1. According to Fig 5b, excluding the
Dˆ 0 o
Dˆ 1 Lˆ1
and a = 0.1. For the entire sets of shown in Fig. 3, the exis- high values of a, )
Dˆ 1 oo
is reduced monotonically by an increment
Dˆ 0
Lˆ1 in φ . For a relatively high value of a (e.g. a = 1), this parameter
tence of an optimal value of that maximizes qˆ f is evident. More-
Dˆ 1 exhibits a maximum with respect to φ . It is also observable that
Dˆ 1 Lˆ1
over, looking into the maximized values for serval
Dˆ 0
, it is perceiv- ) is
Dˆ 1 oo
less than 0.2, that indicates the annular part size (diame-
able that there is a second opportunity to perform maximization of ter) is relatively higher compared with the length of the pin part,
Dˆ 1 Dˆ 1
qˆ f with respect to . In other words, by reducing , there is no especially for higher values of φ . Fig. 5c, as it is expected, shows
Dˆ 0 Dˆ 0
22 M.R. Hajmohammadi / International Journal of Refrigeration 88 (2018) 16–23
Fig. 10. Optimal configurations related to Fig. 9 for one, two and three number of
annular fins connected to a pin fin., when φ = 0.02 a = 0.1 n = 1 n = 2 n = 3.
that the maximized qˆ f is enhanced by increasing φ . The effects of
parameter a, on the optimization results are reflected in Fig. 6. It
Dˆ 1
is observed that the design parameter
Dˆ 0
) exhibits a descending
o De Jong, K.A, Spears, W.M., 1990. An analysis of the interacting roles of population
Lˆ1
behavior by increasing a, while the second design parameter
Dˆ 1 oo
has maximum with respect to the variations of a. To provide a bet-
ter understanding of the shape of the optimal designs, some opti-
mum configurations in Figs. 5 and 6 are graphically depicted in
Fig. 7.
For a multi-structure assembly described in Fig. 2 with n > 1,
the optimal design (shape) and the maximized value of qˆ f is ob-
tained based on GA algorithm. As an instance, for a multi-structure
assembly with two units of annular pin assembly (n = 2), some
optimum configurations are depicted in for several combinations
of φ and a in Fig. 8. To reflect the effects of the number of the an-
nular pin units on the optimization results, the maximized value
of qˆ f and some optimum configurations are shown in Figs. 9 and
10, respectively. Although the complexity of the optimal assembly
is increased by adding an annular pin unit, a significant conclusion
that is drawn from these figures, is that the thermal performance
enhancement of the assembly by increasing the number of the an-
nular pin units, is drastic.
5. Conclusions
Geometric optimization and constructal design of a multi-scale
annular fins connected to a pin are investigated in this paper. An
analytical solution is conducted to establish the heat transfer re-
moved by the fins. The optimization objective is to maximize the
heat transfer, the optimization variables are the geometrical scales
of the fins assembly and the optimization constraint are fixed
space and material of the fins. Direct search is used to provide a
big picture of how the configuration is evolved to perform better
and better, while the Algorithm Genetic (GA) are used when the
geometrical variables are increased in the optimization process.
One of the most significant conclusion that is drawn from
this study is that the thermal performance of the assembly is
remarkably enhanced by increasing the number of geometrical
variables, in spite of the imposed complexity of the optimization
process. It is also demonstrated that for an optimal assembly with
low amount of materials (low weight), the annular part diameter
must be designed considerably larger in value compared with the
pin part diameter. On the other hand, the optimization of assem-
blies with high amount of materials (high weight), dictates that
the annular part diameter must be in order of magnitude of the
pin part diameter.
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