Comparison of thermal performance of plate and corrugated fin heatsinks with a modified base under free convection

Abstract

In this paper, a numerical study was conducted to measure the convective exchange in heat sinks with curved fins mounted on a normal base (case B) and modified one (case C). Both cases are subjected to natural convection. The study was conducted for a Rayleigh number range of 1.7 × 108 to 7 × 108 and an input heat of 25 W to 144 W. The conservation of mass, momentum, turbulence and energy equations were solved using Ansys - Fluent software.The validation of the numerical model was performed by comparing the results of numerical simulation, with those calculated using empirical correlations for conventional fins (case A as reference). For each configuration, the temperature and velocity contours are given and discussed. The thermal performance of heat sinks for different fins is characterized by the heat dissipation rate per unit mass. The results showed that, the heat transfer improvement is better with the undulated fins mounted on a non-corrugated base than with the other configurations. The geometry with a corrugated fin mounted on a normal base is the most efficient. Compared to the conventional geometry, the temperature is reduced by (-18.35 °C) and the mass is minimized by 44%. Knowing that the heatsink with the corrugated fin and modified base (case C) offers a maximum mass reduction of 49%, and a slight cooling (-7.79 °C) compared to case B. But in any event, both geometries offer an advantage in terms of cooling and mass. The latter one will be useful for applications where mass is a primary consideration.