Forced Air Cooling with Heat Sink
Application ID: 22041
This app demonstrates the following:
- Geometry parts and parameterized geometries
- Sending an email with a report when the computation is finished
- User-defined email server settings which is useful when running compiled standalone applications
- Options for setting different mesh sizes
- Error control of input parameters using methods
Heat sinks are usually benchmarked with respect to their ability to dissipate heat for a given fan curve. One possible way to carry out this type of experiment is to place the heat sink in a rectangular channel with insulated walls.
The temperature and pressure at the channel's inlet and outlet, as well as the power required to keep the heat sink base at a given temperature, is then measured. Under these conditions, it is possible to estimate the amount of heat dissipated by the heat sink and the pressure loss over the channel.
The purpose of the app is to carry out investigations of such benchmarking experiments. You can vary the type of heat sink as well as the number of fins or pins and their dimensions to find the optimal design for a given pressure loss over the channel.
Air velocities and heat source rates can be varied and the app solves for nonisothermal flow, assuming turbulence as described by the algebraic yPlus model.
This application example illustrates applications of this type that would nominally be built using the following products:
however, additional products may be required to completely define and model it. Furthermore, this example may also be defined and modeled using components from the following product combinations:
- COMSOL Multiphysics® and
- either the CFD Module, or Heat Transfer Module
The combination of COMSOL® products required to model your application depends on several factors and may include boundary conditions, material properties, physics interfaces, and part libraries. Particular functionality may be common to several products. To determine the right combination of products for your modeling needs, review the Tabella delle Funzionalità and make use of a free evaluation license. The COMSOL Sales and Support teams are available for answering any questions you may have regarding this.