In the field of heat exchange equipment, the performance of finned tubes directly determines heat transfer efficiency. Cold-wound finned tubes, leveraging their unique precision winding process, have become core components for enhancing heat dissipation. These precisely engineered heat transfer elements are now widely used in air conditioning, industrial cooling, and waste heat recovery systems, providing reliable support for high-efficiency thermal exchange.

The key advantage of cold-wound finned tubes lies in their distinctive forming technology. Unlike conventional processes such as hot-rolling or welding, the cold-winding technique tightly wraps metal fins around the base tube surface under mechanical force at room temperature. By precisely controlling winding tension and pitch, an interference fit is formed between the fins and the base tube, reducing contact thermal resistance to below 0.0005 m²·K/W. For example, in copper-aluminum composite finned tubes, the aluminum fins undergo plastic deformation during cold winding, achieving molecular-level adhesion with the copper tube surface. This increases heat transfer efficiency by more than 30% compared to standard finned tubes. Additionally, the winding pitch can be accurately adjusted from 1.5 mm to 6 mm continuously, ensuring optimal fin spacing relative to fluid velocity and minimizing vortex-induced losses.

The precision winding process endows finned tubes with superior heat dissipation performance. Under identical heat transfer surface areas, cold-wound finned tubes achieve 25–40% higher heat dissipation than traditional products—thanks to three major design advantages: First, the fin surface undergoes cold-rolling to create micro-textured structures, increasing air contact area by 15% compared to smooth fins. Second, fin spacing uniformity is controlled within ±0.05 mm, ensuring balanced airflow resistance and avoiding energy loss caused by localized turbulence. Third, the bonding strength between the base tube and fins reaches up to 12 MPa, capable of withstanding thermal shocks up to 300°C without loosening, thereby maintaining stable heat dissipation efficiency over long-term operation. In a retrofit project for a central air conditioning unit, replacing conventional tubes with cold-wound finned tubes reduced energy consumption by 18% under the same cooling capacity.

The structural characteristics of cold-wound finned tubes make them suitable for diverse and demanding environments. The fins are made from highly ductile materials (e.g., 6063 aluminum alloy), which form a helical reinforcing rib structure after winding, increasing bending resistance by 50% compared to straight-finned designs and effectively resisting deformation from airflow impact or vibration. For corrosive environments, protective coatings such as galvanizing or plastic spraying can be applied, enabling salt spray resistance for over 500 hours without rusting. In industrial waste heat recovery systems, cold-wound finned tubes withstand abrasion from particulate-laden flue gas, reducing fin wear by 60% and extending service life to more than eight years.

In practical applications, cold-wound finned tubes demonstrate exceptional adaptability. In residential air conditioning, fine-pitch finned tubes significantly improve evaporator heat transfer efficiency, accelerating cooling speed by 20%. In industrial cooling towers, wide-pitch finned tubes reduce scaling from water vapor, extending maintenance intervals to 18 months. In automotive radiators, lightweight cold-wound aluminum finned tubes reduce weight by 30% while improving heat dissipation by 25%. At a chemical plant, replacing the reactor cooling system with cold-wound finned tubes reduced cooling time from 4 hours to just 2.5 hours, saving over 120,000 kWh annually.

As energy efficiency requirements continue to rise, cold-wound finned tubes—driven by their precision winding technology—are emerging as critical components for upgrading heat exchange equipment. Their advantages in high-efficiency heat dissipation, structural stability, and broad adaptability provide strong support for energy conservation and emissions reduction across industries.