Numerical Evaluation of Clearance Requirements Around Obstructions in Finned Heat Sinks

Author(s):  
Steven Miner

This study uses CFD to consider the effects of obstructions (bosses) on the fluid flow and heat transfer in finned heat sinks used for cooling electronic components. In particular, the effect of bosses, used for mounting components, on the fluid flow distribution and temperature distribution in the heat sink are evaluated. A typical heat sink has fins sandwiched between top and bottom plates, with electronic components mounted on the plates. The top and bottom plates spread the heat generated in the components to reduce the local heat flux. The fins substantially increase the heat transfer area, reducing the temperature rise from the coolant to the top and bottom plates. In this case a uniform distribution of flow across the heat sink can be achieved and there will be no localized hot spots. Ideally there are no protrusions into the finned portion of the heat sink which would cause disruptions in the uniform flow through the heat sink. However, a boss may be needed to bolt a component to the heat sink. The presence of the boss has three effects on the heat sink performance. The boss disrupts the flow in its immediate vicinity, increasing the thermal resistance. This will cause an increase in operating temperature at that location. In addition, the boss will change the flow distribution in the heat sink. Locations upstream and downstream of the boss may see reduced flow due to the obstruction, which in turn will cause an increase in operating temperature for these areas of the heat sink. Finally, the change in flow distribution may increase the pressure drop through the entire heat sink, increasing the power required to operate the system. The purpose of this study is to numerically evaluate the clearance requirements around circular bosses. Comparisons between an unobstructed heat sink and a heat sink with an obstruction are made for the maximum component temperature rise, the pressure drop and the flow distribution. Clearance ratios, diameter of the fin cut out to boss diameter, were varied from 1.1 to 3.3. The Reynolds number for the flow was varied from roughly 3000 to 70,000 based on the hydraulic diameter of flow passage.

2004 ◽  
Vol 126 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duckjong Kim ◽  
Sung Jin Kim

In the present work, a compact modeling method based on a volume-averaging technique is presented. Its application to an analysis of fluid flow and heat transfer in straight fin heat sinks is then analyzed. In this study, the straight fin heat sink is modeled as a porous medium through which fluid flows. The volume-averaged momentum and energy equations for developing flow in these heat sinks are obtained using the local volume-averaging method. The permeability and the interstitial heat transfer coefficient required to solve these equations are determined analytically from forced convective flow between infinite parallel plates. To validate the compact model proposed in this paper, three aluminum straight fin heat sinks having a base size of 101.43mm×101.43mm are tested with an inlet velocity ranging from 0.5 m/s to 2 m/s. In the experimental investigation, the heat sink is heated uniformly at the bottom. The resulting pressure drop across the heat sink and the temperature distribution at its bottom are then measured and are compared with those obtained through the porous medium approach. Upon comparison, the porous medium approach is shown to accurately predict the pressure drop and heat transfer characteristics of straight fin heat sinks. In addition, evidence indicates that the entrance effect should be considered in the thermal design of heat sinks when Re Dh/L>∼O10.


Author(s):  
Suchismita Sarangi ◽  
Karthik K. Bodla ◽  
Suresh V. Garimella ◽  
Jayathi Y. Murthy

Conventional microchannel heat sinks provide good heat dissipation capability but are associated with high pressure drop and corresponding pumping power. The use of a manifold system that distributes the flow into the microchannels through multiple, alternating inlet and outlet pairs is investigated here. This manifold arrangement greatly reduces the pressure drop incurred due to the smaller flow paths, while simultaneously increasing the heat transfer coefficient by tripping the thermal boundary layers. A three-dimensional numerical model is developed and validated, to study the effect of various geometric parameters on the performance of the manifold microchannel heat sink. Apart from a deterministic analysis, a probabilistic optimization study is also performed. In the presence of uncertainties in the geometric and operating parameters of the system, this probabilistic optimization approach yields an optimal design that is also robust and reliable. Uncertainty-based optimization also yields auxiliary information regarding local and global sensitivities and helps identify the input parameters to which outputs are most sensitive. This information can be used to design improved experiments targeted at the most sensitive inputs. Optimization under uncertainty also provides a quantitative estimate of the allowable uncertainty in input parameters for an acceptable uncertainty in the relevant output parameters. The optimal geometric design parameters with uncertainties that maximize heat transfer coefficient while minimizing pressure drop for fixed input conditions are identified for a manifold microchannel heat sink. A comparison between the deterministic and probabilistic optimization results is also presented.


Author(s):  
Duckjong Kim ◽  
Sung Jin Kim

In the present work, a novel compact modeling method based on the volume-averaging technique and its application to the analysis of fluid flow and heat transfer in pin fin heat sinks are presented. The pin fin heat sink is modeled as a porous medium. The volume-averaged momentum and energy equations for fluid flow and heat transfer in pin fin heat sinks are obtained using the local volume-averaging method. The permeability, the Ergun constant and the interstitial heat transfer coefficient required to solve these equations are determined experimentally. To validate the compact model proposed in this paper, 20 aluminum pin fin heat sinks having a 101.43 mm × 101.43 mm base size are tested with an inlet velocity ranging from 1 m/s to 5 m/s. In the experimental investigation, the heat sink is heated uniformly at the bottom. Pressure drop and heat transfer characteristics of pin fin heat sinks obtained from the porous medium approach are compared with experimental results. Upon comparison, the porous medium approach is shown to predict accurately the pressure drop and heat transfer characteristics of pin fin heat sinks. Finally, surface porosities of the pin fin heat sink for which the thermal resistance of the heat sink is minimal are obtained under constraints on pumping power and heat sink size. The optimized pin fin heat sinks are shown to be superior to the optimized straight fin heat sinks in thermal performance by about 50% under the same constraints on pumping power and heat sink size.


Author(s):  
Eric D. Truong ◽  
Erfan Rasouli ◽  
Vinod Narayanan

A combined experimental and computational fluid dynamics study of single-phase liquid nitrogen flow through a microscale pin-fin heat sink is presented. Such cryogenic heat sinks find use in applications such as high performance computing and spacecraft thermal management. A circular pin fin heat sink in diameter 5 cm and 250 micrometers in depth was studied herein. Unique features of the heat sink included its variable cross sectional area in the flow direction, variable pin diameters, as well as a circumferential distribution of fluid into the pin fin region. The stainless steel heat sink was fabricated using chemical etching and diffusion bonding. Experimental results indicate that the heat transfer coefficients were relatively unchanged around 2600 W/m2-K for flow rates ranging from 2–4 g/s while the pressure drop increased monotonically with the flow rate. None of the existing correlations in literature on cross flow over a tube bank or micro pin fin heat sinks were able to predict the experimental pressure drop and heat transfer characteristics. However, three dimensional simulations performed using ANSYS Fluent showed reasonable (∼7 percent difference) agreement in the average heat transfer coefficients between experiments and CFD simulations.


2008 ◽  
Vol 130 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
W. A. Khan ◽  
J. R. Culham ◽  
M. M. Yovanovich

An entropy generation minimization method is applied to study the thermodynamic losses caused by heat transfer and pressure drop for the fluid in a cylindrical pin-fin heat sink and bypass flow regions. A general expression for the entropy generation rate is obtained by considering control volumes around the heat sink and bypass regions. The conservation equations for mass and energy with the entropy balance are applied in both regions. Inside the heat sink, analytical/empirical correlations are used for heat transfer coefficients and friction factors, where the reference velocity used in the Reynolds number and the pressure drop is based on the minimum free area available for the fluid flow. In bypass regions theoretical models, based on laws of conservation of mass, momentum, and energy, are used to predict flow velocity and pressure drop. Both in-line and staggered arrangements are studied and their relative performance is compared to the same thermal and hydraulic conditions. A parametric study is also performed to show the effects of bypass on the overall performance of heat sinks.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 5219
Author(s):  
Jin-Cherng Shyu ◽  
Jhao-Siang Jheng

Because the delta winglet in common-flow-down configuration has been recognized as an excellent type of vortex generators (VGs), this study aims to experimentally and numerically investigate the thermo-hydraulic performance of four different forms of winglet VGs featuring sweptback delta winglets in the channel flow in the range 200 < Re < 1000. Both Nusselt number and friction factor of plate-fin heat sinks having different forms of winglets, including delta winglet pair (DWP), rectangular winglet pair (RWP), swept delta winglet pair (SDWP), and swept trapezoid winglet pair (STWP), were measured in a standard wind tunnel without bypass in this study. Four rows of winglets with in-line arrangement were punched on each 10-mm-long, 0.2-mm-thick copper plate, and a total of 16 pieces of copper plates with spacing of 2 mm were fastened together to achieve the heat sink. The projected area, longitudinal and winglet tip spacing, height and angle of attack of those winglets were fixed. Besides that, three-dimensional numerical simulation was also performed in order to investigate the temperature and fluid flow over the plate-fin. The results showed that the longitudinal, common-flow-down vortices generated by the VGs augmented the heat transfer and pressure drop of the heat sink. At airflow velocity of 5 m/s, the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop of plain plate-fin heat sink were 50.8 W/m2·K and 18 Pa, respectively, while the heat transfer coefficient and the pressure drop of heat sink having SDWP were 70.4 W/m2·K and 36 Pa, respectively. It was found that SDWP produced the highest thermal enhancement factor (TEF) of 1.28 at Re = 1000, followed by both RWP and STWP of similar TEF in the range 200 < Re < 1000. The TEF of DWP was the lowest and it was rapidly increased with the increase of airflow velocity.


2002 ◽  
Vol 124 (3) ◽  
pp. 164-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. B. Ma ◽  
G. P. Peterson

An extensive numerical analysis of the temperature distribution and fluid flow in a heat sink currently being used for cooling desktop computers was conducted, and demonstrated that if the base of a heat sink was fabricated as a heat pipe instead of a solid material, the heat transfer performance could be significantly increased. It was shown that as the heat sink length increases, the effect of the thermal conductivity of the base on the heat transfer performance increases to be a predictable limit. As the thermal conductivity is increased, the heat transfer performance of heat sinks is enhanced, but cannot exceed this limit. When the thermal conductivity increases to 2,370 W/m-K, the heat transfer performance of the heat sinks will be very close to the heat transfer performance obtained assuming a base with infinite thermal conductivity. Further increases in the thermal conductivity would not significantly improve the heat transfer performance of the heat sinks.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ranjith Kumar Valaparla ◽  
Karthik Balasubramanian ◽  
Kupireddy Kiran Kumar

AbstractPurpose: Numerical investigation was carried out to study the hydro-thermal characteristics in circular wavy microchannels (CWMCs) with sidewall rib. Thermal resistance and pressure drop penalty were compared with sinusoidal wavy microchannels (SWMCs) design. Parametric study on sidewall rib was also carried to minimize the pressure drop penalty and to achieve lower thermal resistance. Introducing sidewall rib in the CWMCs leads to the formation of more Deans vortices. This leads to an effective fluid mixing and augments the convective heat transfer. Design methodology/approach: A computational solid domain was created in SOLIDWORKS and the fluid domain was produced by circular arc profile for the entire length of heat sink. 3-D numerical investigation was carried out using ANSYS FLUENT software. Created computational domain was imported into ANSYS WORKBENCH. Meshing was executed in ANSYS mesh module. The computational domains were meshed using hexahedral elements adopting match control on both sides of microchannel (MC). The numerical investigation was carried out in the Re range from 100 to 300 with constant heat flux (50 W/cm2) applied at the bottom of the channel. Heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics were explained with velocity vectors, velocity contours and temperature contours. Findings: From numerical studies, it is concluded that CWMC with sidewall rib width (0.15 mm) leads to 33.6 % lower thermal resistance than SWMC with pressure drop penalty. Originality/Value: Present study is useful to identify the optimum deign to augment the heat dissipation performance of microchannel heat sink.


1995 ◽  
Vol 117 (4) ◽  
pp. 294-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Mukutmoni ◽  
Y. K. Joshi ◽  
M. D. Kelleher

A computational study of natural convection in an enclosure as applied to applications in cooling of electronic components is reported. The investigation is for a configuration consisting of a three by three array of heated protrusions placed on a vertical substrate. The vertical sidewalls are all insulated, and the top and bottom walls serve as isothermal heat sinks. A thin layer at the back of each protrusion is the heat source, where heat is generated uniformly and volumetrically. The coolant is the flourinert liquid FC75. The code was first validated with experimental results reported earlier on the same configuration. The effect of the substrate conductivity, κs on the heat transfer and fluid flow was then studied for power levels of 0.1 and 0.7 Watts per protrusion. The computations indicate that the effect of increasing κs is dramatic. The protrusion temperatures which were found to be nominally steady, were substantially reduced. The percentage of generated power that is directly conducted to the substrate increased with an increase in κs. The fluid velocity field, which was unsteady, was not significantly affected by changes in κs.


Author(s):  
R. Muwanga ◽  
I. Hassan

This paper presents the flow and heat transfer characteristics in a cross-linked silicon microchannel heat sink. The heat sink is composed of 45 channels, 270 μm wide × 285 μm tall in a silicon substrate formed via deep reactive ion etching. A detailed discussion of the pressure drop data reduction is described, including characterization of the channel cross-sections and methods to account for inlet and exit loss coefficients. No significant difference is observed in the pressure drop measurements between the cross-linked and standard heat sinks flowing air and water. The use of un-encapsulated liquid crystal thermography was successfully utilized to obtain local heat transfer data with FC-72 as the working fluid. The heat transfer results show inflections in the thermal profile due to the cross-links.


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