ABSTRACT
The use of open-cell metal foams as enhanced surfaces on advanced heat exchangers has attracted the attention of both the scientific and industrial community. At first sight, metal foams seem to be thought to act as extended surfaces in compact heat exchangers, and significant advantages can be achieved with the use of open-cell metal foam structures to manufacture highly effective, geometry-flexible, and multi-functional compact heat exchange devices. One of the first attempts to introduce and critically discuss the possible use of metal foams as extended surfaces in metal foam-finned heat exchangers was proposed by S. J. Kim et al. G. Cicala et al. performed an experimental study to evaluate three aluminum-foamed heat exchangers, which showed better heat transfer behavior as compared to the bare tubes row. Considering the air-cooled microchannel condensers for miniaturized refrigeration systems, C. Zilio et al. proposed using metal foams to enhance their air-side heat transfer performance for electronics cooling in aeronautical applications.
