869

Air-Cooling Effects of Fins on a Motorcycle Engine∗

Masao YOSHIDA∗∗ , Soichi ISHIHARA∗∗∗ , Yoshio MURAKAMI∗∗∗ , Kohei NAKASHIMA∗∗∗

and Masago YAMAMOTO∗∗∗

Effects of the number of fins, fin pitch and wind velocity on air-cooling were investi-
gated using experimental cylinders for an air-cooled engine of a motorcycle. Experimental
cylinders that had a various number of fins and fin pitches were tested in a wind tunnel. Then
the temperature inside of the cylinder, on the surface of the fins and in the space between the
fins was measured. Results indicated that the heat release from the cylinder did not improve
when the cylinder had more fins and too narrow a fin pitch at lower wind velocities, because
it was difficult for the air to flow into the narrower space between the fins, so the temperature
between them increased. We also obtained the expression of average fin surface heat transfer
coefficient derived from the fin pitch and the wind velocity. This expression is useful for the
fin design of an air-cooled cylinder.

Key Words: Internal Combustion Engine, Heat Transfer Enhancement, Forced Convection,
Natural Convection, Engine Performance, Air Cooling, Cylinder, Cooling Fin

engines but did not investigate temperature distribution in

1. Introduction
the fin circumference in detail.
Once motorcycle engines used air-cooling. However, Gibson(1) derived an experimental equation for the fin
almost all modern motorcycle engines use liquid-cooling surface heat transfer coefficient as follows:
except for motorbike engines, because it is more difficult
 
α = 241.7 0.024 7 − 0.001 48 h0.8 /p0.4 u0.73 (1)
for air-cooling than liquid-cooling to uniformly cool an
engine cylinder. The air-cooled engine is also designed where
more by trial and error. In order to permit the development α: Fin surface heat transfer coefficient [W/(m2 ·◦ C)], h: Fin
of design data for most effective cooling fin, an experi- length [mm], p: Fin pitch [mm], u: Wind velocity [km/h]
mental model cylinder for an air-cooled engine was de- Equation (1) was developed using a copper cylinder
veloped. This experimental cylinder was tested in a wind at wind velocities from 32 to 97 km/h. However, it is not
tunnel. clear whether Eq. (1) can be applied with an aluminum
There have been a number of studies(1) – (7) on air- cylinder at wind velocities of less than 32 km/h.
cooling of air-cooled engine fins. Table 1 shows the di- Thornhill et al.(4) derived the experimental equation
mensions and materials of air-cooled cylinders and wind of the fin surface heat transfer coefficient as follows:
velocity investigated by Gibson(1) , Bierman et al.(2) and α = 2.11u0.71 × s0.44 × h−0.14 (2)
Thornhill et al.(3), (4) They acquired data on cylinder cool-
ing at relatively high wind velocities with the exception Table 1 Experimental cylinder and wind velocity by Gibson,
of Thornhill et al.(4) Thornhill et al.(4) tested at wind ve- Bierman et al. and Thornhill et al.
locities from 7.2 to 72 km/h to design fins for motorcycle
∗
Received 20th February, 2006 (No. 04-1246). Japanese
Original: Trans. Jpn. Soc. Mech. Eng., Vol.71, No.709, B
(2005), pp.2324–2330 (Received 19th November, 2004)
∗∗
Graduate School of Science and Technology, Meijo Uni-
versity, 1–501 Shiogamaguchi, Tempaku-ku, Nagoya-shi,
Aichi 468–8502, Japan
∗∗∗
Faculty of Science and Technology, Meijo University,
1–501 Shiogamaguchi, Tempaku-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi
468–8502, Japan. E-mail: nakasima@ccmfs.meijo-u.ac.jp

JSME International Journal Series B, Vol. 49, No. 3, 2006

870
where
s: Fin separation at middle fin length [mm]
Equation (2) was developed using an aluminum cylin-
der at wind velocities from 7.2 to 72 km/h. However,
Eq. (2) has less deviation with lower u0.71 × s0.44 × h−0.14
but greater deviation with higher u0.71 × s0.44 × h−0.14 .
In this study, the effects of the number of fins, fin
pitch and wind velocity on cylinder cooling were investi-
gated in detail by utilizing an aluminum cylinder at speeds
(the wind velocity to the cylinder) from 0 to 60 km/h that
motorcycles and motorbikes are operated at frequently. In
addition, the optimized number of fins and fin pitch on air-
cooling were examined. We also attempted to derive an
experimental equation for average fin surface heat transfer
coefficient from fin pitch and wind velocity. For the pur-
pose of this study, the experimental cylinder design per-
mitted variation in the number of fins and fin pitch. The
temperature inside the cylinder, on the fin surface and in
the space between the fins was measured. In order to ex-
amine the effect of air flow between the fins on fin pitch,
the oil flow pattern on the fin surface was observed using
the oil film method.
2. Experimental Equipment and Procedure
Figure 1 shows the experimental equipment. The
wind tunnel(8) is an Eiffel-type with a nozzle which has a
height of 680 mm and a width of 400 mm. The maximum
wind velocity in the wind tunnel is 72 km/h. The experi-
mental cylinder was mounted with its central axis perpen-
dicular to the air flow on a support table. Figure 2 shows
the experimental cylinder with a stroke of 50 to 62 mm and
a stroke volume of 150 to 187 cm3 . The fins and cylinder
were made of an aluminum alloy (JIS A5052). The fins
were fitted tightly in the cylinder. A heater with electrical
power of 300 W, a stirrer, and a K type (CA) thermocou-
ple were inserted into the cylinder as shown in Fig. 3. In-
sulator covers were set at the top and bottom of the cylin-
der. Heat storage liquid (ethylene glycol) of 300 cm3 was
used to fill the cylinder. In this experiment, the rotation
of the stirrer had a minimum effect on temperature inside
Fig. 1 Experimental equipment
Series B, Vol. 49, No. 3, 2006
the cylinder; therefore, trace increase in temperature was
ignored. Table 2 shows the specifications of experimental
cylinders.
2. 1 Heat release from the cylinder
Cylinders a ∼ m in Table 2 were used to measure heat
release from the cylinder. Experiments were performed
using the following steps.
( 1 ) The experimental equipment in Fig. 3 was set and
the cylinder was filled with 300 cm3 of heat storage liquid.
( 2 ) The heat storage liquid was heated and the stirrer
was operated.
( 3 ) When the heat storage liquid reached a temper-
ature of approximately 150◦ C, the heater was turned off
and removed.
( 4 ) The temperature of the heat storage liquid de-
creased to 120◦ C by cooling at room temperature. At
120◦ C the wind tunnel was operated and the temperature
was recorded.
( 5 ) The temperature was recorded until it reached
room temperature.
Heat release from the cylinder was obtained by mul-
tiplying the mass and the heat capacity of the heat storage
liquid by the difference between 120◦ C and the temper-
ature after 10 minutes from the start of recording, then
dividing it by measurement time. The experiments were
carried out at an ambient temperature of 13±1◦ C, because
Fig. 2 Experimental cylinder
Fig. 3 Measuring equipment for ethylene glycol temperature
JSME International Journal

Table 2 Specifications of cylinders
Fig. 4 Measuring points for temperature on cooling fin surface
ambient temperature has a significant effect on tempera-
ture measurement of heat storage liquid. The wind veloc-
ity conditions were 0, 20, 40 and 60 km/h. The measured
temperature was accurate to within ±0.4◦ C in this experi-
ment. It is estimated that measured heat release was accu-
rate to within ±2%.
2. 2 Heat transfer from the fins into the air
Cylinders n ∼ q in Table 2 were used to measure heat
transfer coefficient on the fin surface. In order to mea-
sure the temperature on the fin surface, junctions of K type
thermocouple of 50 µm wire diameter were placed at dis-
tances of 5, 20 and 33 mm from the fin root in radius and
the windward angle of 0◦ (facing the oncoming air stream)
to 180◦ with the equiangular spiral of 45◦ in circumference
as shown in Fig. 4. In this case, the temperature on the fin
surface was measured at fifteen positions on the center fin
of three fins. Insulator covers were set not only at the top
and bottom of the cylinder but also at a width of 30 mm
from both the top and bottom. A temperature controller
was used to keep the heat storage liquid at a constant tem-
perature. Experiments were carried out using the follow-
ing steps [Steps ( 1 ) and ( 2 ) are omitted here because they
are the same as ( 1 ) and ( 2 ) in section 2.1].
( 3 ) The temperature of the heat storage liquid was
maintained at 100◦ C by the temperature controller, while
the wind tunnel was operated.
( 4 ) When the temperature on the fin surface became
steady, it was recorded.
The local fin surface heat transfer coefficient was ob-
tained by dividing the electric power supplied to the heater
by the total surface area of the cylinder and the difference
between the local temperature on the fin surface and the
JSME International Journal
871
Fig. 5 Thermocouple for measurement of temperature in space
between fins
atmospheric temperature.
αl = q/{A(T 1 − T 2 )} (3)
where
αl : Local fin surface heat transfer coefficient [W/(m2 · ◦ C)],
q: Electric power supplied to the heater [W], A: Total sur-
face area of cylinder [m2 ], T 1 : Local temperature on fin
surface [◦ C], T 2 : Atmospheric temperature [◦ C]
The loss of electric power supplied to the heater was
examined in a preliminary experiment and it was compen-
sated for when the local fin surface heat transfer coefficient
was calculated. The experiments were carried out at wind
velocities of 0, 20, 40 and 60 km/h. The measured temper-
ature was accurate to within ±0.3◦ C in this experiment. It
is estimated that the local fin surface heat transfer coeffi-
cient was accurate to within ±0.6% if the local heat flux
was constant. However, we speculated that the local heat
flux was not constant. Therefore, the local fin surface heat
transfer coefficient became accurate to more than ±0.6%.
2. 3 Temperature in the space between the fins
Cylinders r ∼ v in Table 2 were used to measure the
temperature between the fins. Junctions of K type ther-
mocouple with 50 µm wire diameter were set between the
fins as shown in Fig. 5. K type thermocouples were placed
at distances of 5, 20 and 33 mm from the fin root in ra-
dius and the windward angle of 0◦ (facing the oncoming
air stream) to 180◦ with the equiangular spiral of 20◦ in
circumference as shown in Fig. 6. In this case, the temper-
ature was measured at thirty positions within the fin space
close to the center most fin, of all the fins. Only at a wind-
ward angle of 0◦ , the temperature of the fin root side was
affected by the thermocouple in the fin edge side. There-
fore, the thermocouple was set in each position in radius
of a windward angle of 0◦ for every temperature measure-
ment. Experiments were carried out using the following
steps [Again, steps ( 1 ) and ( 2 ) are omitted here because
they are the same as ( 1 ) and ( 2 ) in section 2.1].
( 3 ) The wind tunnel was operated while the heat stor-
age liquid was heated.
( 4 ) When the temperature between the fins became
steady, it was recorded.
The experiments were carried out at an ambient tem-
Series B, Vol. 49, No. 3, 2006
872

Fig. 6 Measuring points for temperature in space between fins

Fig. 7 Effect of fin pitch on heat release from cylinder (6 Fins)

perature of 23 ± 1◦ C and wind velocities of 0, 20, 40

and 60 km/h. The measured temperature was accurate to
within ±0.6◦ C in this experiment.
2. 4 Flow pattern on the fin surface
Cylinders b ∼ f in Table 2 were used to observe the
flow pattern on the fin surface using the oil film method.
The oil suspension was made of talc powder (as a trace
agent) and kerosene (as an oil-film formative substance).
Their mutual ratio was 1 : 5 by weight. A small amount
of oleic acid (as a dispersive medium) was also added to
the oil suspension. It was sprayed uniformly onto the fin
surface.
The experiments were carried out without the heat
storage liquid in the cylinder, at an ambient temperature
of 23 ± 1◦ C and a wind velocity of 60 km/h. The flow pat-
tern on the fin surface was formed in 1 min. after the wind
tunnel was operated. When the oil film on the fin surface
was sufficiently dry, the air flow was turned off.
3. Results and Considerations Fig. 8 Effect of number of fins on heat release from cylinder

3. 1 Heat release from the cylinder

Figure 7 shows the effect of fin pitch on heat release
from the cylinder with 6 fins. The ‘u’ represents wind ve-
locity in Fig. 7. Heat release from the cylinder increased
with increased wind velocity in each fin pitch. When the
wind velocity increases, the fin pitch has less effect on
heat release from the cylinder. It appears that the air does
not flow well between the fins with narrower fin pitch at a
lower wind velocity but the air flows well between the fins
with each fin pitch at a higher wind velocity. When the fin
pitch increased with each fixed number of fins, except for
a fin pitch of 20 mm at wind velocities of 40 and 60 km/h,
heat release from the cylinder increased. Figure 8 shows
the effect of the number of fins on heat release from the
cylinder at wind velocities of 0 and 20 km/h. Heat release
from the cylinder increased with an increased number of
fins with each fixed fin pitch at a wind velocity of 20 km/h.
As the number of fins increased, heat release from the
cylinder increased slightly with a fin pitch of 20 mm, was
almost steady with fin pitches of 10 and 15 mm and de-
creased with a fin pitch of 7 mm at a wind velocity of
0 km/h. A possible reason is that the temperature in the
space between the fins increases and heat release from the
cylinder decreases with decreased fin pitch at a wind ve-
locity of 0 km/h.
3. 2 Heat transfer from the fins into the air
Figure 9 shows the fin surface heat transfer coefficient
at a distance of 33 mm from the fin root in each angle of
circumference. In Fig. 9 the heat transfer coefficient in-
creased with increased wind velocity in each fin pitch. The
rate of increased heat transfer coefficient to increased wind
velocity lessened with wider fin pitch. Evidently, when the
air flows well between the fins, it cools them with wider
fin pitch even at a lower wind velocity. The heat transfer
coefficient with a fin pitch of 7 mm is lowest in each wind

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Fig. 10 Heat transfer coefficient vs. wind velocity

Fig. 9 Effect of wind velocity and fin pitch on heat transfer

coefficient (Distance from root of fin: 33 mm)

velocity. It was considered that the air would not flow well
between the fins and the temperature between them would
increase because of narrower fin pitch, but even at a higher
wind velocity, the temperature between them does not de-
crease. There is the minimum heat transfer coefficient at a
windward angle of 135◦ in circumference in Fig. 9. Espe-
cially with wider fin pitch, the difference of heat transfer
coefficient between the minimum at a windward angle of
135◦ and the maximum is larger. It appears that air flow
Fig. 11 Effect of fin pitch on temperature of ethylene glycol in
separates from the fins at the windward angle of 135◦ or
cylinder and space between fins
its vicinity.
The average fin surface heat transfer coefficient was
defined as follows: average surface heat transfer coefficient at a wind veloc-
αavg = q/{A(T avg − T 1 )} (4) ity of 0 km/h, the trend of Eq. (1) for fin pitches of 7 and
20 mm and Eq. (2) for a fin pitch of 20 mm is similar to
where
the experimental data of our current work. Equation (2)
αavg : Average fin surface heat transfer coefficient [W/
for a fin pitch of 7 mm is not suitable for comparison with
(m2 · ◦ C)], T avg : Average temperature on fin surface [◦ C]
our experimental data because Eq. (2) was derived from
Figure 10 shows typical examples of the average sur-
data on fin pitches of more than 8 mm. The average sur-
face heat transfer coefficient for fin pitches of 7 and 20 mm
face heat transfer coefficient for Eq. (5) can be estimated
plotted against wind velocity. From these results, we
not only at a higher wind velocity but also at a lower wind
derived the experimental equation for a graphical rela-
velocity.
tionship between average surface heat transfer coefficient,
3. 3 Temperature in the space between the fins
wind velocity and the fin pitch as follows:
  Figure 11 shows the temperature inside the cylinder
αavg = 2.47 − 2.55/p0.4 u0.9 + 0.087 2p + 4.31 (5) and the average temperature between the fins for each fin
where pitch. The temperature inside the cylinder decreased with
αavg : Average surface heat transfer coefficient [W/ decreased fin pitch and increased number of fins for each
(m2 · ◦ C)], p: Fin pitch [mm], u: Wind velocity [km/h] wind velocity, except for the fin pitch of 7 mm. The tem-
Equation (1) proposed by Gibson(1) and Eq. (2) by perature inside the cylinder with a fin pitch of 7 mm is
Thornhill et al.(4) are used to plot the graph in Fig. 10 to higher than that with a fin pitch of 8 mm. The temper-
compare directly with our current work. Equations (1) and ature between the fins increased when the fin pitch de-
(2) indicate that the average surface heat transfer coeffi- creased and the number of fins increased. The heat re-
cient is zero at a wind velocity of 0 km/h. Except for the lease from the cylinder increases because the fin surface

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Fig. 12 Effect of fin pitch on temperature distribution (u = 40 km/h)

area increases due to increasing the number of fins and

decreasing the fin pitch from 20 to 8 mm. It appears that
the heat release from the cylinder decreases because the
temperature between the fins is even higher and the ther-
mal boundary layers on the upper and lower fin surfaces
overlap due to the increased number of fins, even with a
decreased fin pitch from 8 to 7 mm.
Figure 12 shows the temperature distribution in cir-
cumference between the fins for each fin pitch. In Fig. 12
the temperature between the fins was defined at a value
that was obtained by subtracting the atmospheric tempera-
ture from each measured temperature. When the fin pitch
decreased, the temperature between the fins increased at
the leeward, and then at the windward in Fig. 12. It ap-
pears that the heat release from the cylinder decreases with
narrower fin pitch, because the air does not flow well be-
tween the fins and the thermal boundary layers on the up-
per and lower fin surfaces overlap even at the windward.
When the fin pitch increased, the temperature between the
fins decreased at the windward, and then at the leeward.
The temperature distribution between the fins for a fin
pitch of 15 mm is almost the same as that for a fin pitch
of 20 mm.
Figure 13 indicates the temperature distribution in Fig. 13 Effect of wind velocity on temperature distribution
circumference between the fins for fin pitches of 10 and
20 mm and wind velocities of 20 and 60 km/h. In Fig. 13
the temperature between the fins was also defined at a the temperature difference inside the cylinder between fin
value that was obtained by subtracting the atmospheric pitches of 10 and 20 mm at a wind velocity of 60 km/h in
temperature from each measured temperature. Each tem- Fig. 11 should be affected only by the number of fins.
perature between the fins for a wind velocity of 60 km/h is 3. 4 Flow pattern on the fin surface
lower than that for 20 km/h in each fin pitch. The temper- The observed flow patterns on the fin surfaces at a
ature distribution between the fins for a fin pitch of 10 mm wind velocity of 60 km/h are shown in Fig. 14. When
is almost the same as that for a fin pitch of 20 mm at a wind the fin pitch increased, the positions of flow separation
velocity of 60 km/h. Even if the fin pitch decreases from and vortex moved to the leeward side. The result shows
20 to 10 mm at a wind velocity of 60 km/h, the air flows that the air does not flow well to the leeward side and the
well between the fins and the thermal boundary layers on heat release from the cylinder decreases with narrower fin
the upper and lower fin surfaces are thinner. It was consid- pitch. The reason there is a minimum heat transfer coeffi-
ered that the thinner thermal boundary layer would have a cient at a windward angle of 135◦ in circumference on the
minimum effect on heat release from cylinder. Therefore, fin surface in Fig. 9 is that the air flow separates.

Series B, Vol. 49, No. 3, 2006 JSME International Journal


can be obtained using the following equation at the speed
from 0 to 60 km/h.
Fig. 14 Observation of flow pattern on fin (u = 60 km/h)
4. Conclusions
The experimental cylinder for an air-cooled engine
was developed and the effects of the number of fins, fin
pitch and wind velocity on cylinder cooling were investi-
gated. The major results obtained are as follows:
( 1 ) To increase the cylinder cooling, the cylinder
should have a greater number of fins. However, the cylin-
der cooling may decrease with an increased number of fins
and too narrow a fin pitch at non-moving or lower speeds.
Because the air does not flow well between the fins, over-
lapping of thermal boundary layers occurs on the upper
and lower fin surfaces.
( 2 ) At a lower speed the air flow separated on the fin
surface at the leeward side and the temperature on the fin
surface increased there. The higher temperature on the lo-
cal fin surface makes cylinder bore a greater deformation,
as a result, scuffing and increased lubricating oil consump-
tion may occur.
( 3 ) The optimized fin pitches with the greatest effec-
tive cooling are at 20 mm for non-moving and at 8 mm for
moving.
JSME International Journal
875
( 4 ) The average fin surface heat transfer coefficient
 
αavg = 2.47 − 2.55/p0.4 u0.9 0.087 2p + 4.31
References
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(2) Biermann, A.E. and Pinkel, B., Heat Transfer from
Finned Metal Cylinders in an Air Stream, NACA Re-
port No.488 (1935).
(3) Thornhill, D. and May, A., An Experimental Investiga-
tion into the Cooling of Finned Metal Cylinders, in a
Free Air Stream, SAE Paper 1999-01-3307, (1999).
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Free Air-Cooling of Air-Cooled Cylinders, SAE Paper
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Experimental Studies of Heat Transfer from Finned
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