Numerical modeling of natural convection heat transfer from radial branching heat sinks for LED cooling applications

Abstract

Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) have revolutionized the lighting industry due to their high energy efficiency. However, LEDs require effective thermal management to preserve their lifespan and luminous efficiency. In the current study, the design of a branching radial heat sink is numerically investigated and optimized for cooling LED panels of downlights under natural convection. Branching fins arranged radially on a horizontal circular plate were considered in the current study. The buoyant fluid flow over the heat sinks is observed and characterized using parameters such as fin length, height, inclination angle, and number. The dependency of Nusselt number, heat transfer coefficient and thermal resistance on the design parameters are explained by studying the buoyant fluid flow characteristics over the heat sink. Both heat transfer coefficient and thermal resistance decrease with geometric parameters such as fin length, height, and number. Due to branching, the Nusselt number decreases by 17% at lower fin lengths and by 20% at higher fin lengths, respectively. However, the thermal resistance of the heat sink arrays decreases by around 13% at lower fin lengths and remains constant at higher fin lengths due to branching. A comparative study is performed by plotting a contour map between the cooling performance of a radial branching heat sink and a radial flat plate heat sink using a heat transfer enhancement factor. Branching fins with angles above 25°and fin heights over 19 mm outperform plate-fin heat sinks of the same height and length for fin number n = 20. Finally, a correlation is proposed to predict the average Nusselt number of the fin arrays as a function of the design parameters.