Passive Enhancement of Heat Dissipation of Desktop Computer Chassis

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to find optimal configurations for chassis heat dissipation in a passive fashion, i.e., to reach an optimal configuration by determining the location and orientation of an additional fan (if any), aided by flow-inducing openings on the chassis cover, without making further hardware changes on the current design. The results were compared with the temperature measurements of each element, and the agreement was favorable. The parameters under consideration are the locations and orientations of the additional fan, and flow conditions of the openings on the chassis cover, i.e., with or without an opening, and the direction of the flow (blowing in or sucking out). Temperature distributions and flow fields around various heating elements were evaluated numerically. It is concluded that an overall optimal chassis configuration in which all the heating elements have a favorable heat dissipation behavior may not exist. However, an optimal configuration in terms of heat dissipation does exist if only one specific element is under consideration. Also, the occurrence of vortices which results in poor heat dissipation was identified, and the method for the elimination of these vortices was suggested.