Natural convection in a bi-heater configuration of passive electronic cooling

The present work reports steady state simulation of natural convection in a horizontal, planar square cavity with two discrete heat sources (representing power-dissipating semiconductor devices in electronics/MEMS applications), flush-mounted on its bottom wall. The heaters are modeled as constant-flux heat sources. The sidewalls of the cavity are isothermal heat sinks. The top wall and the non-heated portions of the bottom wall are adiabatic. Buoyancy-driven convection is simulated for varying length and/or strength ratios of the two heat sources, for a fixed cavity size and a constant value of total thermal energy input. The computational study quantitatively depicts the critical roles played by the heater length and heater strength ratios in ensuring that the devices operate within the 'safe' temperature limits specified by the manufacturer. Such quantitative predictions help determine the range in which the heater sizes and/or flux strengths may be varied so that the conditions of operation remain within the specified thermal limit. (C) 2007 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.