Natural convective performance of perforated heat sinks with circular pin fins

Abstract

This study examines heat transfer performance under natural convection for two different types (Type A and Type B) of pin–fin heat sinks with/without a hollow in the heated base. The effects of the rate of heat transfer, the height of fin and base plate, the heat sink porosity and the perforated base plate on the heat-transfer coefficient and enhancement factor were investigated and evaluated. In order to obtain insight into the fluid flow phenomena, flow visualization was also made to observe the detailed fluid flow characteristics of the present pin–fin heat sinks. Experimental results show that heat transfer, using pin–fin heat sinks, is significantly different for Type A and Type B. Comparisons of the heat transfer coefficients, with respect to the unfinned base plate under the same experimental conditions, for the pin–fin heat sinks were about 1.48-fold–1.64-fold (Type A) and 1.81-fold–1.94-fold (Type B), respectively. In addition, results also show that a Type B-heat sink has a higher enhancement factor than a Type A-heat sink.