[Alchemy]

Originally posted by unregistered
good designs are simple designs, quite true in testing

Agreed. The less work, the less likelihood of up-f**ks. Perhaps the most important thing I learned from college. Er, other than learning how to drink entire bottles of rum in a sitting. Second most important, perhaps.

see no point in attempting to characterize the rad tube/fin profile surface temp,
no way to use the info and too prone to mounting induced variability

Well, you need some way to separate the heat transfer coefficients between air and radiator and water and radiator. This is the simplest way I can think of to try that. You're quite right that variability will be a pain, though. Obviously the temperature will change significantly depending on how far the water has traveled on the other side. Not sure what to answer to that except running replicates.

rads respond quickly and assessing equilibrium and valid mean values can be a real chore

Again, can't you just run replicates and analyze the data later to figure out an average and standard deviation for what you're trying to find?

then one has to figure out how to 'dump' the heated air so as not to jack up the amb temp

Ooh, that's a very good point. Ambient temp really changes that much in your testing lab? If so, you can still measure delta-Ts to figure out what you're trying to do, but the fact you're trying to test a dynamic system does indeed make for a pain in the ass.

Alchemy