Numerical simulation of heat sink cooling in the mainboard chip of a computer with temperature dependent thermal conductivity

Abstract

In this paper, a numerical simulation of heat transfer in a heat sink installed on the transistorized square chip of a computer was investigated. Thermal performance of mainboard chip is very important in this operation. Heat sink was an appropriate device for removing heat uses air cooling technique. The fourth order Runge-Kutta method was used to solve nonlinear heat transfer equation. This simulation analyzed a heat sink geometry made from different materials with various heights such as aluminum and copper. Thermal conductivity of heat sink materials was temperature dependent. The effect of internal heat generation and radiation from heat sink surface, was studied. The Nusselt number and heat transfer coefficient was obtained in different velocities of air flow. As a main outcome, the Nusselt number increased with the increase of the air flow velocity and it caused of an enhancement in heat transfer coefficient.