286 HEAT TRANSFER-PARALLEL PLATE HEAT SINKS From "Design and Analysis of Heat Sinks" t~Al Ul\f'\L '--v,~

yJ,j ••••.•
,. .•.
_ ••

Allan D. Kraus and Avram Bar-Cohen, 1995

10.3 Natural Convection in a Parallel-Plate Channel I r:
10.3.1 The Elenbaas Correlation ! Channel
I outlet
Elenbaas (1942) was apparently the first to document a detailed study of the
thermofluid behavior of a vertical channel in natural convection. His exper-
I
imental results for isothermal plates in air were later confirmed numerically
by Bodoia and Osterle (1964) and shown to apply, as well, to constant heat
;~ ~
flux conditions (Sobel et aI., 1966). Aung (1972), Aung et al. (1972), Miy- Twal
~f'. ",)
atake and Fujii (1972) and Miyatake et a1. (1973) all extended the available !'or-- "...'
results to include both asymmetric wall temperature and heat flux boundary Channel
rnld-ehanne!
conditions, including the case of the single insulated wall.
A unified picture of the thermal transport in such vertical channels emerged
from these and complimentary studies. Figure 10.3 shows that in the inlet ;~
region and in relatively short channels, individual momentum and thermal
~:::
boundary layers are in evidence along each surface. Moreover, the heat-
TwaJl ~,
\ I
transfer rates approach those associated with laminar flow along isolated Channel
Inlet \ /
plates in infinite media. The development of these boundary layers pro-
gresses towards the fully developed condition at the channel outlet. Alterna-
--I
Tamblent
tively, for long narrow channels, the boundary layers merge near the entrance, "-
and fully developed flow prevails along much of the channel.
Temperature prolile Velocity profile
In this fully developed regime, the local heat-transfer coefficient is con-
stant (neglecting the temperature dependence of fluid properties) and equal Figure 10.3 Developing temperature and velocity profiles for natural convection in
to the well-documented forced convection values of Lundberg et al. (1963). a vertical channel.
However, because the local fluid temperature is not known explicitly, it is
customary to reexpress the fully developed heat-transfer coefficient in terms
of the wall-to-ambient or wall-to-inlet air temperature difference. The Nus- these nondimensional groupings are, henceforth, referred to as the Elenbaas
selt number, Nu., for isothermal plates appropriate to this definition can be number, El, and the modified Elenbaas number, El", respectively.
derived from the "incompressible natural convection" form of the Navier-Stokes Elenbaas used his understanding of these bounding relations to establish
equations. This was done semianalytically by Elenbaas (1942) and rederived the form of the relationship between the gap-based Nusselt number and the
via an integral formulation by Bar-Cohen and Rohsenow (1983). fluid properties over the entire range of channel geometries. Application of
The analytic Nusselt number relations for the fully developed flow region this form to the data for relatively short plates in air, yielded the well-known
and the isolated-plate region, summarized in Table 10.1, can be expected to Elenbaas (1942) correlation:
bound the Nusselt number values over the complete range of flow devel-
Nuo = hz = El (1 _ e_35/El)3/4 (10.43)
opment. In the fully developed limit, the gap-based Nusselt number (Nu = k 24
hz / k), is seen to depend on a gap-based Rayleigh n umber wi th z taken as the
spacing between plates where Nu, is the gap-based Nusselt number and z is the spacing between the
plates.
_ p2g(3cpz4(Tw - Too)
Ra - p.kL
10.3.2 Composite Relations
for an isothermal channel and a modified gap-based Rayleigh number When a function is known to vary smoothly between two limiting expressions,
2g(3c zSqll which are themselves well defined, and when solutions for intermediate val-
Rail = P l'
ues of the function are either difficult to obtain or involve other tabulated
~lk2L
functions, an approximate composite relation can be obtained by appropri-
for an isoflux channel. In recognition of his seminal contributions to this field, ately summing the two limiting expressions.
 NATURAL CONVECTION 289

This approach could be of particular benefit in predicting the behavior

of air-cooled heat sinks in domains far from the Elenbaas parametric space
or for heat sinks cooled by fluids other than air. Churchill and Usagi (1972)
suggested that the frequently employed linear superposition be viewed as a
special case of a more general summation of the form

..
:§ ~
~ on
<,
y = [(Azp)n + (BzQ)n]l/n (10.44)
o-l
@ @ @ where
~ .2! (ll ~
E::••
~ o o y ~ AzP as z 0
] o
,.,
->

r:: I';
II II
~ II

z~ :; as
N
y -> B zq z ~ 00
.~ 0-
~ "
:l
'"
~ •.. Z ~ Z
'"
:l and
p::
<1l
[ :>1
"0 &l N
~
:l.
>0 P <q
~
~
.;!l
G .~
' ~o-l
= .§ <:t'N
..........
-@@-
~ ~
~
::::
[i-
-IJJ
<,
-e
~..:l
0'1.:
n
nx O
if
if p>q
~~e,
N"'"
:;t!:
a-,-
00 •.•.• ,
E-< :l.
.....
"2 <1l
.c
!-< 0
jj:J1jj
'"'1"l
"l<l!
00 ~ ~:< 0'
In using this approach for natural convection in a channel, care must be
II II 00
II II
'o t! "].; .2 taken to express Nu in terms of the appropriately defined Elenbaas number for
] "! ~ ~t5"t5"
~ II II
N , N, both the fully developed and isolated plate limits. This has been done in the
o:., ::s~ :l"
..:0 ,., Ul

f
,., ..:0
~ tn tn
ZZ ~~ ~ ~ ~~NQ. ~ isolated-plate correlations shown in Table 10.1. Multiplication of both sides
:s:s :s ;;" III III ~ of the conventional correlations by zj L easily converts those expressions to
Q ~ zz
:0:
'0
z~ ELl ELl '3
c;::
N
the relations shown between the gap Nusselt number, hzjk, and the Elenbaas
£(/)
::3- 1-~JL--------------------------------------t-----~~1~e
I- ~ number, El or El" for isothermal and isoflux channels, respectively.
~j
~u r::
]
~ CII

£i
]
]
III
.£
]
-3 ~
.•..• -
.•..•
~
N
cv
~
III
cv
In applying Eq. (10.44) to natural convection in isothermal channels, it
might thus be anticipated that Nu, would vary according to
cv •••.•
g ~ ] .a ',;j
CII
.!:l -:u ..s ~-'8
N 0 ..c
.•...
s
..c
§ .§
<1l

'=
~
Ul ~
•. CII
C
f!
Q)
Ul
~
CII
.IS ~~
r::.2'tU
~
~
~ ---; I
~ E-< ~ 11
Nu, = {(A1El)-n + [B3(El)1/4rn}-1/n (10.45)
III
E:~p,. ~
S'il: oeil:
l.. ..
o Il... Il... ~ I ...l Vl

~ ~ £i cv 0..8 CII "1:l >< ~ --:; .E

-al .~S 11~£i~~ (Ij..c
~ ~ •. .E
CII
or:: :< t! ~ 10.3.3 Symmetric, Isothermal Plates
i c8~,
I
~.2!2 ii: 0 "'lil2"'- :< t! <,
"'0
::3 , Fi u CQre
s: .~.$l',9
~ ra •..
~~'1U~
I
b <, O' ~
'"

Z0
I
',9 I U
As suggested in Table 10.1, Nu for laminar-free convection on isothermal
'0
§
I'll

~
.u 'iti
E.g CII •.ID §.l: ..•.. .2!1:co.l:.!:! .$l '.6
•.•.•
(Ij
e
CI)
CII
-, 0""'- '.0

~~ 0' ~ III 1il surfaces is dependent on (El)1/4,and configurational variations are generally
l~~
I'll .- CII Qj

~ .S I:Q
o
8
I'll
~.s § ~ ~ il:~~eme ~ III N 8- reflected in different values of the coefficient. For moderately short vertical
>< .,j Ul >, III ,.,:::0 c,
~ c::
plates in air and 104 < El < 109, McAdams (1954) reports the coefficient to
~~~Ul~
£ <: -<
;~ ~
Ul ~~Ul
,!!l
<: ~~Ul
,!!l ~~~
" '" '"
"Sl
~
;:l
equal 0.59. This expression, together with the fully developed Nu, relation
~ ~
derived earlier, can be inserted into Eq. (10.45) to yield

]-1/11
Nuo =
[
(;4 El) -
7t

+ 0.59(El1/4)-n (10.46)

A comparison of Eqs. (10.43) and (10.46) shows that the choice of n = 2 of-
fers very good agreement with the experimental results of Elenbaas. The
composite equation for isothermal plates thus takes the form

576 2.87 ] -1/2

Nu, = [ (El)2 + (El)I/2 (10.47)
10 HEAT TRANSFER-PARALLEL PLATE HEAT SINKS RADIATION-PARALLEL PLATE 291

I I II I f3 = 1/325 = 0.003081/K
lO Isolated plate limit
~ ",. ,..... cl' = 1000J/kg-K

".
5
!, I.m...i !'III" {t = 2 X 10-5 N-s/m2
2
1
l.A IJf:" and

0.5
~ f8 "Composite relation
Nu Fully develo ied
0.2 i-,....-limi.t ~
~ k = 0.028W /m-K
0.1
.A ;e 2xl02 103 5x103 5x104 Thus with Tw - To = 50 K and L = 0.15 m, El at 325 K is found to equal
00.5 11:I
~ El = 1.80 x 101Oz4
00.2 0

00.1
~
/- and thus
0.005
For the spacing = 20 mm, EI = 2874 isolated-plate region
0.10.2 0.5 1 2 5 10 20 50
For the spacing = 5 mm, El = 11.23 intermediate region
EI = (Gr-Pr zjL) For the spacing = 2 mm, El= 0.287 fully-developed region

igure 10.4 Nusselt number variation for symmetric isothermal plates (data points Now a return to Eq. (10.47) or Fig. 10.4 will give the Nusselt numbers.
For a spacing of 20 mm, Nu = 4.32 and
am Elenbaas, 1942).

h = 4.32~ = 4.32(0.028) = 6.05 W /m2-K

-here El and Nu are based on properties evaluated at the average fluid tern- z 0.02
erature. The validity of this relation, derived by Bar-Cohen and Rohsenow For a spacing of 5 rnrn, Nu = 0.43 and
1983), and the utility of the Churchill and Usagi (1972) approach, are borne
ut by the close proximity of the Elenbaas (1942) data points to the composite
h = 0.43~ = 0.43(0.028) = 2.41 W /m2_K
.lation of Eq. (10.47) and the asymptotic equations at both limits, indicated z 0.005
1 Fig. 10.4.
and for a spacing of 2 mm, Nu = 0.012 and
xample 10.6: Determine the heat-transfer coefficient for air in natural con-
ection within a 15-cm long, parallel-plate channel. The ambient temperature k 0.012(0.028) = 0.168W /m2_K
h = 0.012; = 0.002
;300 K and the channel walls are maintained at 350 K. Three si tuations are to
e considered, corresponding to plate spacings of 20 mm, 5 mm, and 2 mm.
10.4 Thermal Radiation from a Parallel-Plate Channel
OLUTION Either Eqs. (10.43) or (10.47) (or Fig. 10.4) can be used here.
uppose Eq. (10.47) is employed. The Elenbaas number An isolated heated surface radiates energy to its surroundings in accordance
with the Stefan-Boltzman law introduced in Sec. 1.2.4, Eq. (1.27). This rela-
El = gp2f3cp(Tw - To)z4 tionshi p app lies as-we II to-a-finned-surface,bu t-eare-m ustbe-teken-informula t~
J-LkL ing the radiant-exchange equations from the If-shaped channel, the "building
block" of a typical plate-fin heat sink (Fig. 10.5).
; found first. The average air temperature is In such a channel, only a fraction of the thermal radiation, originating from
the area between the two parallel plates (surface I), will flow directly to the
Tav = 300 +2 350 = 325K
surroundings (through surfaces 4,5, and 6). The remainder of the radiation
will be intercepted by the side walls of the channel and be reflected and/ or
nd the fluid properties at this temperature are found to equal absorbed by these surfaces. The side walls (surfaces 2 and 3) will themselves
radiate to the surroundings, as well as back to the base surface (surface 1).
p = 1kg/m3 Thus, correct determination of the net thermal radiation from a heat sink to