Finned tubes are used for efficient cooling or heating is required. These kind of extended surface tubes are used for the production of air-cooled heat ex-changers condensers and even convection coils used in furnaces.

Fins are basically external and extended surfaces located or inserted on outside of tubes and or pipes in order to increase the total surface area and thermal efficiency, resulting in compact heat transfer equipment.

Operating temperature limits for the various types of fin-tubes. Finned tubes are used in applications involving the transfer of heat from a hot fluid to a colder fluid through a tube wall considering three factors:

The temperature difference between the two fluids

The heat transfer coefficient between each of the fluids and the tube wall

The surface area to which each fluid is exposed.

So the whole concept of finned tubes is to increase outside surface area. The advantage of finned tubes is that by increasing overall heat transfer rate, the total number of tubes required for a given application is reduced, thereby also reducing overall equipment size and decreasing the cost of the project. In many application cases, one finned tube replaces six or more bare tubes at less than 1/3 the cost and 1/4 the volume.

Application

• Oil and gas refineries
• Petroleum, chemical and petrochemical industries
• Natural gas treatment
• Steel making industry
• Power plants
• Air conditioning
• Compressor coolers