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Thermal performance of a radial heat sink with longitudinal wavy fins for electronic cooling applications under natural convection

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Abstract

Heat dissipation by natural convection from heat generating electronic devices is a ubiquitous phenomenon in engineering and research to improve the thermal efficiency of the devices and upsurge their lifespan. In this context, this paper outlines a numerical study on the thermal performance of a radial heat sink with longitudinal wavy fins under the influence of pure natural convection. Three-dimensional numerical computations have been performed to elucidate the heat dissipation characteristics from a horizontally oriented radial heat sink with considering the following pertinent parameters: Rayleigh number (Ra), number of fins (Nfin), fin height (H/d), pitch-to-amplitude ratio (P/A) of the wavy fin, and number of cycles (n) in a wavy fin. A limiting case of straight longitudinal fins is also simulated to compare and justify the use of wavy fins over straight fins. At certain ranges of the pertinent parameters, wavy fins intensify the thermo-buoyant flow and augment the heat dissipation from the fin surface. The results reveal that wavy fins are superior to straight fins at higher Ra and below a critical Nfin, whereas straight fins are still superior at low Ra and higher values of Nfin. At higher Ra, the average Nusselt number (Nu) and fin effectiveness are higher for wavy fins of three cycles, followed by two and one cycles for Nfin below 24. Furthermore, the optimum Nfin for maximum fin effectiveness gradually increases with rise in Ra. The present study on longitudinal wavy fins affirms to be the very first research work in the field of radial heat sinks.

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Abbreviations

A :

Amplitude (m)

A T :

Total surface area (m2)

A fin :

Fin surface area (m2)

A b :

Bare tube surface area (m2)

c p :

Specific heat at constant pressure (J kg−1 K−1)

c :

Correlation constants

d :

Tube diameter (m)

g :

Acceleration due to gravity (m s−2)

Gr r :

Grashof number based on tube radius

h :

Heat transfer coefficient (W m−2 K−1)

H :

Fin height (m)

k :

Thermal conductivity (W m−1 K−1)

L :

Cylinder length (m)

n :

Number of cycles

\(\hat n\) :

Normal unit vector

N fin :

Number of fins

Nu :

Average Nusselt number

Nu d :

Nusselt number based on tube diameter

Nu r :

Nusselt number based on tube radius

p :

Pressure (N m−2)

P :

Pitch (m)

q :

Heat flux (W m−2)

Q :

Heat transfer rate (W)

r :

Tube radius (m)

R 2 :

Coefficient of correlation

Ra :

Rayleigh number

t :

Fin thickness (m)

T :

Temperature (K)

u :

Velocity vector (m s−1)

x :

Cartesian coordinate vector (m)

X :

Dimension of the domain in x-direction (m)

Y 1 ,Y 2 :

Dimensions of the domain in y-direction (m)

Z :

Dimension of the domain in z-direction (m

ρ :

Density (kg m−3)

β :

Thermal expansion coefficient (K−1)

µ :

Dynamic viscosity (kg m−1 s−1)

ε :

Fin effectiveness

c:

Computed

eff:

Effective

f:

Fluid

fin:

Fin

i,j:

Index notations

m:

Mean

p:

Predicted

s:

Solid

w:

Wall

x,y,z:

Cartesian directions

∞:

Ambient

ζ:

Average

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India, for providing computer and software facilities in the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) laboratory at the Department of Mechanical Engineering. One of the authors (Siddharth) would also like to acknowledge the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Govt. of India, for supporting with regular doctoral assistantship through IIT Kharagpur.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Energy Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, West Bengal, 721302, India

    Subhasisa Rath &  Siddhartha

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra, 721302, India

    Subhasisa Rath

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, West Bengal, 721302, India

    Sukanta Kumar Dash

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  1. Subhasisa Rath
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Contributions

Subhasisa Rath contributed to conceptualization, methodology, visualization, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing, and supervision. Siddharth contributed to simulation, data curation, validation, and visualization. Sukanta Kumar Dash contributed to writing—review and editing and supervision.

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Correspondence to Subhasisa Rath.

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Appendix A: Effect of wavy fin geometry on flow fields (velocity vectors)

Appendix A: Effect of wavy fin geometry on flow fields (velocity vectors)

See Fig. 18.

Fig. 18
figure 18

Velocity vectors around the longitudinal straight and wavy (P/A = 35 and n = 1) finned tube on the flow field at Ra = 107 and H/d = 1; a straight fins of Nfin = 20, b wavy fins of Nfin = 20, c straight fins of Nfin = 8, d wavy fins of Nfin = 8, e magnified view of straight fins of Nfin = 8, and f magnified view of wavy fins of Nfin = 8 (umax indicates the magnitude of maximum velocity in the flow field)

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Rath, S., Siddhartha & Dash, S.K. Thermal performance of a radial heat sink with longitudinal wavy fins for electronic cooling applications under natural convection. J Therm Anal Calorim 147, 9119–9137 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-021-11162-x

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