Thermal Modeling of a Microchannel Heat Sink
Application ID: 470
Thermal management has become a critical aspect of today’s electronic systems, which often include many high-performance circuits that dissipate large amounts of heat. Many of these components require efficient cooling to prevent overheating. Some of these components, such as processors, require a heat sink with cooling fins that are exposed to forced air from a fan. This discussion develops the model of an aluminum microchannel heat sink whose manifolds work as flow dividers to improve its cooling performance.
This example models the temperature distribution in a microchannel heat sink mounted on an active electronic component. The model includes both nonisothermal fluid flow and an energy balance to describe the conduction and convection.
This model 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:
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.