HEATSINKS

EstimatingParallelPlateFinHeatSink
ThermalResistance
FEBRUARY1ST,2003 ByRobertE.Simons

CATEGORIES:CalculationCorner,Design,HeatSinks
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ISSUE:February2003
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TAGS:HeatSink,HeatTransferCoefficient,ThermalResistance

Asnotedpreviouslyinthiscolumn,thetrendofincreasingelectronicmodulepowerismakingitmoreand
moredifficulttocoolelectronicpackageswithair.Asaresultthereareanincreasingnumberofapplications
thatrequiretheuseofforcedconvectionaircooledheatsinkstocontrolmoduletemperature.Anexampleof
awidelyusedtypeofheatsinkistheparallelplateconfigurationshowninFigure1.
Figure1.Parallelplatefinheatsinkconfiguration.

Inordertoselecttheappropriateheatsink,thethermaldesignermustfirstdeterminethemaximumallowable
heatsinkthermalresistance.Todothisitisnecessarytoknowthemaximumallowablemodulecase
temperature,Tcase ,themodulepowerdissipation,Pmod ,andthethermalresistanceatthemoduletoheat
sinkinterface,Rint.Themaximumallowabletemperatureattheheatsinkattachmentsurface,Tbase ,isgiven
by

Themaximumallowableheatsinkresistance,Rmax,isthengivenby
whereTairin ,isthetemperatureofthecoolingairattheinlettotheheatsinkpassages.Atthispointmany
thermalengineerswillstartlookingatheatsinkvendorcatalogs(ormorelikelytodaystartsearchingvendors
ontheinternet)tofindaheatsinkthatwillfitintheallowablespaceandprovideaheatsinkthermal
resistance,Rhs,lessthanRmaxatsomespecifiedflowrate.Insomecases,itmaybeusefultodoasizingto
estimateRhsforvariousplatefinheatsinkdesignstodetermineifafeasibledesignconfigurationispossible.
Theremainderofthisarticlewillprovidethebasicequationstodothis.Thethermalresistanceoftheheat
sinkisgivenby

wherehistheconvectiveheattransfercoefficient,A base istheexposedbasesurfaceareabetweenfins,Nfin

isthenumberoffins, fin isthefinefficiency,andA fin isthesurfaceareaperfintakingintoaccountboth
sidesofthefin.

Toproceedfurtheritisnecessarytoestablishthemaximumallowableheatsinkvolumeintermsofwidth,W,
height,H,andlengthintheflowdirection,L.Itisalsonecessarytospecifyafinthickness,tfin .Usingthese
parametersthegap,b,betweenthefinsmaybedeterminedfrom

Theexposedbasesurfaceareamaythenbedeterminedfrom

andtheheattransferareaperfinfrom

Atthispointitisnecessarytospecifytheairflowrateeitherintermsoftheaveragevelocity,V,betweenthe
finsoravolumetricflowrate,G.Ifavolumetricflowrateisused,thecorrespondingairvelocitybetweenthe
finsis
Todeterminetheheattransfercoefficientactinguponthefins,anequationdevelopedbyTeertstraetal.[1]
relatingNusseltnumber,Nu,toReynoldsnumber,Re,andPrnumber,Pr,maybeemployed.Thisequationis

ThePrandtlnumberis

where isthedynamicviscosityofair,cp thespecificheatofairatconstantpressure,andkisthethermal

conductivityofair.TheReynoldsnumberusedin(8)isamodifiedchannelReynoldsnumberdefinedas

where isthedensityofair.Equation(8)isbaseduponacompositemodelspanningthedevelopingtofully
developedlaminarflowregimesandwasvalidatedbytheauthors[1]bycomparingwithnumerical
simulationsoverabroadrangeofthemodifiedchannelReynoldsnumber(0.26<Reb <175)andwithsome
experimentaldataaswell.UsingtheNusseltnumberobtainedin(8)theheattransfercoefficientisgivenby

wherekfluid isthethermalconductivityofthecoolingfluid(i.e.air).Theefficiencyofthefinsmaybecalculated
using

wheremisgivenby

andkfin isthethermalconductivityofthefins.

Usingtheseequationsitispossibletoestimateheatsinkthermalperformanceintermsofthethermal
resistancefromthetemperatureatthebaseofthefinstothetemperatureoftheairenteringthefinpassages.
ItmaybenotedthattherelationshipforNusseltnumber(8)includestheeffectofthetemperatureriseinthe
airasitflowsthroughthefinpassages.Toobtainthetotalthermalresistance,Rtot,tothebaseoftheheatsink
itisnecessarytoaddinthethermalconductionresistanceacrossthebaseoftheheatsink.Foruniformheat
flowintothebaseRtotisgivenby

andkbase isthethermalconductivityoftheheatsinkbase.

Forpurposesofillustrationtheseequationswereusedtoestimateheatsinkthermalresistancefora50x50
mmaluminumheatsink.TheeffectofincreasingthefinheightandthenumberoffinsisshowninFigure2for
aconstantairvelocityandinFigure3foraconstantvolumetricflowrate.Inbothcasesitmaybeseenthat
therearelimitstohowmuchheatsinkthermalresistancemaybereducedbyeitherincreasingfinlengthor
addingmorefins.Ofcoursetodeterminehowaheatsinkwillactuallyperforminaspecificapplicationitis
necessarytodeterminetheairvelocityorvolumetricflowratethatcanbedeliveredthroughtheheatsink.To
dothisitisnecessarytoestimatetheheatsinkpressuredropcharacteristicsandmatchthemtothefanor
blowertobeused.Thisisatopicforconsiderationinafuturearticle.
Figure2.Effectoffinheightandnumberoffinsonheatsinkthermalresistanceatanairvelocityof2.5m/s
(492fpm).
Figure3.Effectoffinheightandnumberoffinsonheatsinkthermalresistanceatavolumetricairflowrateof
0.0024m3 /s(5CFM).

References
1.Teertstra,P.,Yovanovich,M.M.,andCulham,J.R.,AnalyticalForcedConvectionModelingofPlateFin
HeatSinks,Proceedingsof15thIEEESemiThermSymposium,pp.3441,1999.

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