Mixed convection air cooling of protruding heat sources mounted in a horizontal channel

A numerical study of laminar mixed-convection heat transfer to air from two identical protruding heat sources, which simulate electronic components, located in a two-dimensional horizontal channel, is presented in this paper. The finite volume method and the SIMPLER algorithm are used to solve the conservation equations of mass, momentum, and energy for mixed convection. Results show that the heat transfer increases remarkably for Pr = 0.71 and 5 <= Re <= 30. It was also found that the increase of separation distance, the height and the width of the components has a considerable enhancement of the heat removal rate from the components, and therefore, on the improvement of the heat transfer inside the channel. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.