Modeling of the thermal and hydraulic performance of plate fin, strip fin, and pin fin heat sinks-influence of flow bypass

Abstract

Tests have been conducted in a wind tunnel with seven types of heat sinks including plate fin, strip fin, and pin fin heat sinks. In the case of strip fin, and pin fin heat sinks, both in-line and staggered arrays have been studied. The pin fin heat sinks had circular and square cross-sections. For each type, tests were run with fin heights (H) of 10, 15, and 20 mm while the heat sink width (B) was kept constant and equal to 52.8 mm. In total, 42 different heat sinks were tested. The width of the wind tunnel duct (CB) was varied in such a way that results were obtained for B/CB=0.84, 0.53, and 0.33. The wind tunnel height (CH) was varied similarly, and data were recorded for H/CH=1, 0.67, and 0.33 while the duct Reynolds number was varied between 2000 through 16500. An empirical bypass correlation has been developed for the different fin designs. The correlation predicts the Nusselt number and the dimensionless pressure drop and takes into account the influence of duct height, duct width, fin height, fin thickness, and fin-to-fin distance. The correlation parameters are individual for each fin design. Further, a physical bypass model for plate fin heat sinks has been developed to describe the bypass effect.