Investigation of a computer CPU heat sink under laminar forced convection using a structural stability method

In the present study, the thermal performance of an air-cooled, flat-plate heat sink in forced convection was performed using a three-dimensional analytical model. To validate the present model, this solution is compared with numerical and experimental results that agree. This research studies the influence of heat sink thermal performance and of environmental parameters on the heat sink's stability against thermal stress, which is essential for manufacturers' goals. The effective parameters on heat transfer rate from the surface of heat sink were investigated. Reynolds and Nusselt numbers, heat transfer coefficient, fins height, and fins number were studied under various air flow velocities. In addition, the thermal stress (structural stability method) was investigated. Enhancement of the airflow velocity caused the Nusselt number value to incline, which increases the heat transfer coefficient. Increasing the Reynolds number from 3.80*10(3) to 2.28*10(4) leads to less thermal stress by 47.36%, less deformation by 50%, less surface temperature by 28.57%, and, consequently, less geometry failure. Results depicted that pure convection has less heat transfer by 1.66% compared with convection-radiation heat transfer, and enhancing the fins number and fins height reduces the surface temperature by 25% and 20%, respectively. As a result, the chosen range of the Reynolds number is totally suitable for this high-temperature device that does not allow thermal stress to deform the fins of the heat sink. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.