Use of nanostructured coating to improve heat exchanger efficiency

This work investigates the potential of surface nano-coatings on the heat transfer surface of heat exchangers, in order to improve their overall efficiency in terms of pressure drop and heat power exchanged. The work started from the consideration that, due to the increasingly strict international standards, the machines will be provided with optimized engines with new and improved devices to reduce the exhaust emissions (liquid cooled EGR valves, new catalytic converters and DPF systems) which reduce inevitably the space in the engine compartment. In this paper it is studied the feasibility of the coating processes and the adaptability of deposition techniques to the industrial production process of cross flow heat exchanger fins. The innovative exchanger performance, investigated using dedicated test rigs, shows that the results are influenced by the coating technology.