Modelling and Simulation of Car Radiator: Effects of Fins under the Atmospheric Condition of Kano, Nigeria

Kabir Bashir Shariff; Bala Abdullahi; Saidu Bello Abubakar

Authors

Kabir Bashir Shariff Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kano University of Science and Technology, Wudil, Nigeria
Bala Abdullahi Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kano University of Science and Technology, Wudil, Nigeria
Saidu Bello Abubakar Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kano University of Science and Technology, Wudil, Nigeria

Abstract

Car engine cooling system takes care of the excess energy produced during its operations. The key component of the cooling system is the radiator whose performance is affected by various parameters including atmospheric temperature. This paper presented a numerical study on the effects of fins in the performance of car radiator under the atmospheric temperature of Kano State of Nigeria. Honda Civic 2000 car radiator model was modelled in SolidWorks using reverse engineering and the model was ran in ANSYS with water as the cooling fluid. In order to increase the cooling effects of the radiator, fins were attached to the geometry which increased its surface area. The outlet temperature of the coolant is determined for 12 months with April and August recorded the maximum and minimum temperatures of 70.39oC and 66.5oC for radiator without fin and 52.3oC and 47.4oC for finned radiator respectively. Results shown that when fins are attached to the radiator modelled, a 25% decreases in the outlet temperature is recorded. In terms of energy dissipation, finned radiator dissipates 74% of the cooling energy while radiator without fin dissipates only 40.8%. Finned aluminium radiator is preferred for the atmospheric condition of Kano because of its more heat rejection with relatively small size. In addition, the atmospheric condition of Kano shows a great influence on the radiator performance as best performance was recorded at lower atmospheric temperature.