Author(s)

Lian-Tuu Yeh ¹

Affiliation(s)

¹ Thermal Consultant, Dallas, TX, USA

Corresponding Author

Lian-Tuu Yeh

ABSTRACT

A series of analysis has been conducted previously to analyze the finned heat sink thermal performance. The analysis is first performed to optimize the fin spacing of a vertical continuous finned heat sink. Both empirical and CFD methods are utilized to obtain the optimal fin spacing of a given heat sink. The results from both methods are in very good agreement. The analysis was then extended to optimize the fin configurations. Three types of fin configurations, namely continuous fins, staggered fins and in-line fins are under consideration. The results from the CFD analysis indicate that the continuous fin configuration is the most effective thermally. Later, the effects of the cover or shrouds at various distances on the heat sink thermal performance are also analyzed. The heat sink with the cover in a direct contact with the fin tips performs best in the heat rejection. For tower or poled mounted electronics, the heat sink weight is extremely important. Therefore, the extrusion fin heat sink is replaced by the plain fin heat sink for weight reduction. This study is aiming at the development of newly developed light weight finned heat sink and its thermal performance under natural convection for cooling of electronics.

KEYWORDS

Heat sinks, natural convection cooling, outdoor Electronics

CITE THIS PAPER

Lian-Tuu, Yeh, Optimized Finned Heat Sinks for Natural Convection Cooling of Outdoor Electronics. Journal of Electronics and Information Science (2018) 3: 22-33.

REFERENCES

[1] Starner, K.E., and McManus, H. N, “An Experimental Investigation of Free Convection Heat Transfer from Rectangular Fin Arrays”, J Heat Transfer 85, 1963.
[2] Welling, J.R. and Wooldridge, C. R., “Free Convection Heat Transfer Coefficients from Rectangular Vertical Fins”, J Heat Transfer 87, 1965.
[3] Izume, K, and Nakamura, H, “Heat Transfer by Convection on Heated surface with Parallel Fins”, Jap. Soc. Mech. Eng., 34, 1969.
[4] Van De Pol, D. W., and Tierney, J.K., “Free Convection Nusselt Number for Vertical U-Shaped Channels”, J Heat Transfer, 95, 1973.
[5] Yeh, L.T., Yeh, Joseph and Chung, B.T. F., “Natural Convection from Finned Heat Sinks”, IPack2007-33036, Vancouver, BC, Canada, July 8-12, 2007.
[6] Yeh, L.T., “Natural Convection from Finned Heat Sinks with/without Cover/Shroud”, 19th International Symposium on Transport Phenomena, Reykjavik, Iceland, August 17th – 21st, 2008.
[7] Yeh, L. T., and Chu, R., C, Thermal Management of Microelectronic Equipment, ASME Press, 2002.
[8] Yeh, L. T., and Chu, R., C, Thermal Management of Telecommunications Equipment, ASME Press, 2013.

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