Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
654711 | International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer | 2009 | 8 Pages |
The hydraulic and thermal performance of a plate-fin heat sink undergoing cross flow forced convection with the introduction of a shield was investigated. With a CFD numerical method, the influence of fin width, fin height, number of fins and Reynolds number were assessed without and with a shield. A shield that tends to decrease the bypass flow effect has a great influence on the variation of the thermal fluid field and the performance of the heat sink. The results of attaching a shield show that more coolant fluid is forced to flow into the fin-to-fin channel to enhance the heat transfer, increasing the pressure drop; this trend is significant at low Reynolds numbers. The decrease of thermal resistance due to the shield diminishes with increasing fin height, but increasing the width of the fins has a more radical effect. For a shield at a particular Reynolds number, the fin geometry should be selected carefully to fit the demands of enhanced effectiveness of heat transfer and decreased power consumption.