Hmmm.... In my brute force DIY setup I'm using a 2-342 single pass GM heatercore, which I've always thought was supposed to be the hot setup, even with axial fans (2 X 120mm, chosen for good SP #'s, but will be undervolting to reduce noise).
Judging by the stampings on the sides of the core, and what I see trying to look into the fins, it appears to be usin two layers of tubes, which are not staggered. There are 13 sets of tubes accross the 6" core width for a space between the tubes of ~ 0.5" or 12mm The fins between the tubes are thin sheets of folded copper, which appear to be sliced across (perpendicular to the airflow) about every 0.1" or so giving some trubulence, but not greatly increasing the thickness of the fin. There are about 10-11 fins per inch, not staggered that I can see (I can easily look through the core when it is at right angles to my sight)
The core is about 2" thick.
Aside from the thickness, this seems to match Cathar's hypothetical description fairly well, with the thickness partly compensated for (how much?) by the slightly wider tube spacing, and the low end fin spacing.
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Something like a 15x15cm cored area heater-core, that was single-row (~ 1/2" to 5/8" thick), with a nice 10-15 degree angled shroud leading into the 12cm low-speed fan that is pulling, and had a fin density around 10-12FPI with ~8mm or so spacing between the tubes would likely perform quite a deal better than a BIX when matched with the same fan.
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Now for the interesting hypothetical questions....
1. Would a heater core such as I am describing benefit by cutting out part of the fins so that at least part of the depth consisted of just the bare tubes?
2. If so, how much of the finning should be removed?
3. Would it be better if the fins were removed from just one side (if so intake or exhaust side?) or approx equal amounts from each side? (I would tend to think the latter so that each row of tubes would be left with at least some fin coverage...)
4. Given typical core construction, can this be done without reducing the structural integrety of the tubes?
5. Assuming the primary concern was to reduce noise,, with maximum cooling a secondary concern, would the effort be worth it? How much would it be possible to reduce the fan speed w/o seriously hurting the cooling or how much would the cooling be reduced (if at all) at a given fan speed?
Obviously since this is a hypothetical question, exact answers aren't possible or expected, but does the theory point to any useful conclusions?
Gooserider