Research on improving the overall thermal performance of panel radiators based on the CFD method

Abstract A panel radiator is one of the radiators commonly used in central heating at present. Improving the heat performance of the panel radiator and making it more suitable for low-temperature heating is an important direction of current research on heating energy conservation. This paper studied the overall heat transfer performance of panel radiators based on the CFD method. The research shows that compared with the longitudinal continuous fin widely used at present, the use of discontinuous fins and staggered fins can improve the thermal properties of the panel radiator significantly. The comparative study of eight scenarios shows that the average heat transfer coefficient of the radiator equipped with longitudinal staggered fins and VGs increases by 120.24%, and the radiator equipped with discontinuous inclined staggered fins increases by 117.33%. Due to the reduction of heat dissipation area, the total amount of heat dissipation of the radiator equipped with discontinuous fins is not as good as the radiator equipped with staggered fins that does not change the heat dissipation area basically. This study provides a way to improve the heat transfer properties of panel radiators.