Conventional Fin Heat Sink Research Articles

Study on Performance of the Thermoelectric Cooling Device with Novel Subchannel Finned Heat Sink

The thermoelectric refrigeration system is an application of the Peltier effect, and good refrigeration performance is dependent on effective heat dissipation performance. To enhance the cooling performance of the thermoelectric system, this paper designs a new type of finned heat sink, which does not change the overall size of the thermoelectric system. The performance of the refrigeration system under the new fin is tested by experiments under various conditions. During the experiment, the cooling wind speed, the temperature of the hot and cold side of the TEC, the power consumption of the fan, and other parameters were directly recorded through the measuring instrument. The results show that the use of new finned heat sinks can improve the COP of the thermoelectric refrigeration system. Within the scope of the study, the thermal resistance of the new fins can be reduced by 42.6%, and the system COP value can be increased by 22.8%. In addition, increasing the cooling wind speed can further reduce the cold side temperature. Within the research range, the lowest temperature can reach −8.25 °C, but the power consumed by the fan is 166% of that of the conventional fin heat sink refrigeration device.

Efficient Thermal Energy Management of Hollow Pin Fin Heat Sinks with and without Phase Change Material

Electronic devices need to be cooled efficiently. Phase change material (PCM) could be incorporated into a conventional fin heat sink (FHS) for such a purpose. This paper reports experimental results obtained on the thermal performances of four FHSs fabricated with different arrays and numbers of hollow aluminium pin fins with various lengths and diameters. Tests were conducted with and without filling them with PCM. Heat input was kept on for 2 hours and varied from 1W, 5W and 10W. Transient heating surface temperatures were recorded on a data logger and plotted every 5 minutes. The results showed that the PCM-filled FHS resulted in faster cooling rates and lower heating surface temperatures. Long and large diameter pins performed better than small and short pins. Efficient fin heat sinks for electronic cooling are essential in view of the weight and size of the component. Hence the findings of this paper would be beneficial for electronic cooling and useful to the electronic industry for efficient thermal energy management.

Methodological Considerations of Using Thermoelectrics with Fin Heat Sinks for Cooling Applications

An experimental investigation was conducted to evaluate the performance of a thermoelectric (TE) module fitted to a conventional fin heat sink with a similar sized heat source. Experiments were conducted with power inputs at 10 W and 20 W under natural convection (NC) and forced convection (FC) air cooling. The results showed that the use of the TE module is not effective under the NC cooling mode. With the present TE module employed, under FC cooling at 20 W, the applied voltage (Vte) to the TE module should be >4 V and at 10 W, it should be >1 V. A simple iterative method of predicting the hot side temperature of the TE module was presented. Agreement between predicted and experimental values was better than 2%.

Optimal thermal design of a horizontal fin heat sink with a modified-opening model mounted on an LED module

Effective cooling is very important issue in a light emitting diode (LED) module because its performance and reliability decrease significantly as the junction temperature increases. This study proposes a cooling method that improves upon the poor ventilation and heat dissipation of a horizontal fin heat sink mounted on an LED module with natural convection. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the geometry of the horizontal fin heat sink with the modified openings, and the cooling performance of the proposed model was compared against those of conventional fin heat sinks. The total thermal resistance of the proposed model is decreased by 30.5% relative to that of the conventional no-opening model at an orientation of 180° and a heat input of 10 W. In addition, the luminous efficacy of the proposed model is increased by 23.7% relative to that of the conventional no-opening model at an orientation of 180° and a heat input of 25 W.