Experimental and numerical investigation on fluid flow and heat transfer behaviour of foam cladded pin fin heat sink


Güler N., Bayer Ö., Solmaz İ.

APPLIED THERMAL ENGINEERING, vol.256, 2024 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 256
  • Publication Date: 2024
  • Doi Number: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2024.124184
  • Journal Name: APPLIED THERMAL ENGINEERING
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, PASCAL, Aerospace Database, Business Source Elite, Business Source Premier, Communication Abstracts, Compendex, INSPEC, Metadex, DIALNET, Civil Engineering Abstracts
  • Keywords: Cooling of electronic components, Foam cladded pin fin, Heat sink, Open-cell metal foam
  • Middle East Technical University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

As technology advances, there is a growing demand for more efficient cooling solutions in electronics. Open-cell metal foams offer a unique solution, combining the strength of metals with the characteristics of foams, including being lightweight and having a high heat transfer area-to-volume ratio. Fully covering heatsinks with porous materials results in high pressure drop values, which is undesirable for electronics cooling. This study proposes a novel design that incorporates cladded aluminum foams on the pin fins within a heatsink. The hydrothermal performance of the proposed design is experimentally and numerically investigated. The results indicate that increasing the cladding thickness enhances heat transfer performance while increasing the pressure drop. For a heatsink with a pin fin diameter of 5 mm at the Reynolds number of 1121, the foam thickness of 5 mm depicts 46.5 % higher hydrothermal performance compared to a pin fin heatsink without porous while a fully porous covered heatsink depicts 38.9 % higher hydrothermal performance.