Thermal-hydraulic modeling of heat sink under force convection: Investigating the effect of wings on new designs

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the heat transfer performance and fluid flow characteristics of different geometrical configurations of new heat sinks. The effect of wings and number of pins on the performance of the heat sinks were numerically investigated. Rigorous heat transfer models, including its associated physical parameters such as surface area were derived for each new design. The results show that adding wings to the pin fins significantly increases heat dissipation from the hot spots. However, there was 47 % heat transfer enhancement of Perforated Hollow Pin-Fin Heat Sink (PHPFHS) with wings when compared with (PHPFHS) without wings. At a velocity of 5 m/s, the corresponding pressure drop for Cone Pin-Fin Heat Sink (CPFHS) without Wings is 10 Pa and that of CPFHS with wings is about 23 Pa. The formation of vortex at the rear of the pin fins causes an increase in pressure drop. The CPFHS with wings has the maximum thermal performance index η which ranges from 1.6 to 2.4 The complex structure of the heat sinks with wings increases the flow resistance and suppresses the flow separation. A relative comparison of the results shows that vortex formation is minimal and suppressed for heat sinks without wings.

Keywords

• Forced convection
• Heat sinks
• Thermal performance
• Pressure drop
• ANSYS simulation