Heat conduction in laminate multilayer bodies with applied finite heat source

• A new model is proposed for 1D heat conduction in multilayer laminate bodies with non-uniform heating.
• The new model identifies two regions of interest for non-uniform laminate heat conduction: heated region and fin region.
• The 1D model was validated against 2D finite element simulations with no loss in accuracy or precision.
• Solutions for non-uniform temperature and heat flux sources are presented in both Cartesian and cylindrical coordinates.
• Dimensionless variables reveal the intrinsic qualities to guide designers to find the most effective laminate design.

Multilayer laminate bodies exhibit beneficial heat spreading qualities when one or more inner layers have sufficiently high thermal conductivity to carry heat laterally under non-uniform heating conditions. The proposed model is broken up in two regions of interest: the heated region and the fin region. This model predicts the behaviour experienced by laminate films when heated by a constant temperature or heat flux over only part of the domain. The one dimensional, steady-state, two-region fin model is unique in its representation of the conduction heat transfer in the heat spreading layer only, for both Cartesian and cylindrical coordinates. Temperature uniformity is wholly attainable with applied heat fluxes, while laminates provide improved heat transfer rates with applied temperature sources (e.g. phase change materials) over conventional, homogeneous, encapsulation materials. The two-region fin model predicts temperature profiles and rates of heat transfer for steady-state or pseudo steady-state analyses as validated by a two-dimensional finite element model under the applicable conditions.