Experimental Investigation of the Fluid Dynamics of a Finned Heat Sink under Operating Conditions

Abstract

An experimental study has been made of the fluid dynamics performance of electronic equipment designed to cool a heat sink in the form of a finned duct. The apparatus consists of a channel of rectangular section containing the finned duct. A forced airflow is driven by three fans placed in parallel in the inlet and in the outlet sections of the channel. In order to investigate a full range of flow rates, different sets of fans were used in the inlet section. Measurements were made of static pressures at different channel positions by pressure taps connected to a micro manometer, and of the flow rate by a Venturi meter. The experimental working conditions of the active fans were consistent with the manufacturers’ characteristic curves. Values of the local friction coefficient compared well with published correlations. The experimental working points agreed very well with the theoretical curve of the pressure drop and the hydraulic diameter was demonstrated to be of the appropriate size for this fluid dynamics problem.