Numerical Simulation Of Square Pin-Fin Heat Sink For Cooling Of Electronic Devices

Abstract

In this study, CFD simulations for a heat sink with square pin-fin for the purpose of cooling of electronic components of devices are executed. A heat sink is responsible for removing excessive heat from electronic components of devices while they are under operational conditions. The heat sink is placed in a duct with an inlet-outlet arrangement. The inlet velocity is the input parameter varying from 2 m/s to 12 m/s with a step of 2, while the output parameters are the Nusselt number and the heat sink base temperature for the performance measure. The flow model comprises three dimensional Navier-Stokes equations, the continuity and energy equations, along with two extra transport equations for capturing the turbulence. The turbulent model used is SST k – ω turbulence model. For solving the system of non-liner partial differential equation, we use finite volume method that gives approximate solution. All simulations are carried out on ANSYS Workbench. The heat source is a constant and uniform heat flux of = 10000 Watt/m² at the base of the heat sink. The temperature of the heat sink base is high enough to be around 362.4 K when the inlet velocity is u = 2 m/s, while it is low enough to be around 320 K when the inlet velocity is u = 12 m/s. The results obtained are quite consistent with the physics of the problem.