In past issues of Electronics Cooling, methodologies were presented for estimating parallel plate-fin heat sink thermal resistance [1] and pressure drop [2]. The underlying assumption for both articles was that all the flow delivered by the fan is forced to go through the channels formed between the fins. As noted in the second article this is often not the case and much of the … [Read more...]
Estimating Parallel Plate-fin Heat Sink Pressure Drop
In the last issue of ElectronicsCooling a methodology was presented for estimating parallel plate-fin heat sink thermal resistance [1]. The method presented assumes that the air flow rate is given, either in terms of the average velocity, V, between the fins or a volumetric flow rate, G. Although this methodology was shown to be useful in examining the effects of heat sink … [Read more...]
Estimating Parallel Plate-Fin Heat Sink Thermal Resistance
As noted previously in this column, the trend of increasing electronic module power is making it more and more difficult to cool electronic packages with air. As a result there are an increasing number of applications that require the use of forced convection air-cooled heat sinks to control module temperature. An example of a widely used type of heat sink is the parallel plate … [Read more...]
Estimating Temperatures in a Water-to-Air Hybrid Cooling System
As most readers are no doubt aware, the trend towards ever increasing processor module power is making it more and more difficult to cool directly with air. Many thermal engineers are convinced that water cooling may be the answer. This does not necessarily mean that cooling water must be supplied by the customer. Instead, in some instances it may be possible to use a … [Read more...]
Estimating Natural Convection Heat Transfer for Arrays of Vertical Parallel Flat Plates
A simple formula to estimate the natural convection heat transfer coefficient on a flat plate was presented in a preceding column [1]. If, instead of a single plate, we wish to consider a closely spaced array of vertically oriented parallel flat plates, a different formula is required. The geometry to be considered appears in Figure 1 and is typical of that for a vertically … [Read more...]
