Transient Thermal Analysis of a Plate Fin Heat Sink with Green's Function

The accurate analyses for a plate fin heat sink with the ability to control the temperature of the avionics devices within a pre-set controllable temperature range are required both in the process of circuit design and for the real-time temperature monitoring purposes. In order to provide an insight into the behavior of the temperature of a plate fin heat sink subjected non-uniform heat density on the surfaces, it is necessary to obtain accurate analytical solutions yielding explicit formulas relating the dissipated power to the temperature rise at any point of avionics devices. This paper presents a method for thermal simulation of a plate fin heat sink using an analytical solution of the three-dimensional heat equation resulting from an appropriate plate fin heat sink transient thermal model. The entire solution methodology is illustrated in detail on the particular examples of the plate fin heat sink subjected non-uniform heat density on the surfaces. The transient temperature profiles are obtained for different positions at the surface of the plate fin heat sink. The analytical results are compared with measurements made on the surface of the cold plate and it is found that they are in good agreement with an error of less than 3 K.