Basic knowledge and application of water cooling jacket
A water cooling jacket is a shell or structure that cools or heats equipment by circulating water. It usually consists of a sleeve made of metal or other heat-conducting materials, with a water flow channel designed inside and a water inlet and outlet for the circulation of cooling water or heating medium.
1.Basic Principle of Water Cooling Jacket
The working principle of the water cooling jacket is based on heat transfer. When the equipment generates heat during operation, the heat is transferred to the water cooling jacket in close contact with the equipment. The cooling water circulating inside the water cooling jacket absorbs this heat, then flows out of the water cooling jacket and dissipates the heat through an external heat dissipation device (such as a radiator), thereby keeping the temperature of the equipment within a safe and efficient operating range. Conversely, if hot water or other heating media is circulated, the water cooling jacket can provide heat to the equipment for heating or maintaining a specific operating temperature.
Water Cooling Jacket
2.Composition of water cooling jacket
Main components
Sleeve body: usually made of metal with good thermal conductivity (such as aluminum, copper, stainless steel) or engineering plastics, its shape and size are designed according to the equipment to be cooled or heated.
Water flow channel: designed inside the sleeve, can be spiral, ring or other complex shapes to ensure that the cooling or heating medium is in full contact with the equipment surface and improve the heat exchange efficiency.
Water inlet and outlet: used to connect to the external circulation system to control the inflow and outflow of cooling or heating medium.
Seal: used to prevent leakage of cooling or heating medium.
3.Application of finned tubes in water cooling jackets
In the previous basic introduction to water cooling jackets, we learned that water cooling jackets remove the heat generated by equipment by circulating cooling water. In order to improve the heat exchange efficiency of water cooling jackets, fin structures are sometimes designed inside or outside the water cooling jackets. As the name suggests, finned tubes are heat exchange tubes with fins installed on the surface of the tubes, which can significantly increase the heat exchange area and thus improve the heat exchange efficiency.
Internal finned tubes (water side): Inside the water jacket, if the heat transfer capacity of the cooling water is the limiting factor, tubes with internal fins can be used in the water flow channel. These fins can increase the contact area between the water and the tube wall and disturb the water flow, increasing the convective heat transfer coefficient on the water side, thereby removing heat more effectively.
External finned tubes (equipment side): On the side of the water jacket that contacts the heat-generating equipment, if the heat dissipation capacity of the equipment surface is limited, fins can be designed on the outer surface of the water jacket. These fins can increase the contact area with the equipment surface and more effectively receive the heat transferred by the equipment.
By adding fins on the water side or the equipment side, the thermal resistance can be effectively reduced, the overall heat transfer efficiency of the water cooling jacket can be improved, and the cooling or heating process can be made more efficient.