Abstract

The engine cooling cycle of plateau engineering machinery needs a special design as at high altitude it will confront worse working condition than that of plain, which demands a more efficient heat exchanger for heat dissipation. However, few researches are on heat transfer and flow analyses of heat exchanger for plateau region. Therefore, this paper presents the characteristics of plateau heat exchanger with different fins. First, four extensive-use fins are studied and it is found out that louvered fin owns the best comprehensive performance in plateau region. Next, the designed cooling cycle with louvered fin heat exchanger was tested in plain but experimental results indicated that the cooling system should be upgraded for a higher efficiency when used in plateau region. Then the louvered fin heat exchanger is simulated and compared to previous research. The simulation is validated to be reliable and accurate as their results agree well. Finally, the heat exchanger is promoted by multi-objective optimization with about 2% increase of comprehensive evaluation factor but 20% decrease of overall mass. This research will be helpful in guiding future design and optimization of plateau engineering machinery.