Heat transfer and flow characteristics of sinusoidal wavy plate fin heat sink with and without crosscut flow control

Abstract

This article presents new experimental data on the influence of phase shift, air velocity, heat sink base surface temperature on heat transfer coefficient, and pressure drop of airflow through sinusoidal wavy plate fin heat sinks (SW-PFHS) and crosscut sinusoidal wavy plate fin heat sinks (CCSW-PFHS). Sinusoidal wavy plate fins with a wave length of 18.68 mm, amplitude of 2.0 mm, and phase shift of 0°, 90°, and 180° are used. For CCSW-PFHS, the sinusoidal wavy plate fin is cut transversely at crests and troughs with a 2 mm length. The test runs are performed at an air velocity ranging between 1 and 5 m/s and a heat sink base surface temperature of 70 °C, 90 °C, and 110 °C. The results show that the higher phase shift and air velocity lead to the enhancement of the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop. Conversely, the heat sink base surface temperature has a slight effect on the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop. The heat transfer coefficient of SW-PFHS is enhanced when increasing the phase shift compared with a phase shift of 0°. Under the same phase shift, the Nusselt number of CCSW-PFHS is higher than that of SW-PFHS by about 5.9–19.1%. The CCSW-PFHS with a phase shift of 180° yields the highest TPF.