Improving shipboard electronics cooling system by optimizing the heat sinks configuration

Abstract

With the increase of high-power electrical components in modern ships, especially fully electric ships with electric propulsion drive (EPD), the cooling of EPD electrical components has become particularly important. Providing optimal configurations for heat sinks with high thermal efficiency plays an essential role in this regard. A new technique for improving the efficiency of heat sinks is the utilization of perforated fins. This study examined the effects of perforation geometry (shape and size) on laminar airflow flow and heat transfer characteristics over a perforated plate-fin heat sink. Three-dimensional simulations were conducted using the finite-volume scheme based on the SIMPLE algorithm. In this research, the effects of perforation shape and size on various parameters, e.g., total drag force, average Nusselt number, perforated fin efficiency (PFE), heat transfer performance enhancement (HTPE), and fin optimization factor (η) were evaluated. The results confirmed that at a specific heat transfer surface area for perforated fins, the highest efficiency is achieved by circular perforations.In contrast, the square perforations due to geometric similarity to rectangular fins could reach the maximum size. Consequently, fins with square perforations could achieve the most optimal configuration. Also, results showed that for a constant perforations size, change in perforations shape improves HTPE, PFE, and η by more than 40%, 45%, and 110%, respectively. Also, by modifying perforations size for a specified shape, an increment of more than 35%, 40%, and 150% is observed in HTPE, PFE, and η, respectively.