Comparison of thermal characteristics between the plate-fin and pin-fin heat sinks in natural convection

Abstract

Paper presented to the 10th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Florida, 14-16 July 2014.

Thermal performances of optimized plate-fin and pin-fin heat sinks with vertical base plate were compared in natural convection. Comparison is performed under the same base plate dimensions and fin height condition. A Nusselt number correlation for plate-fin array was adopted to optimize plate-fin heat sinks. For pin-fin heat sinks, a new correlation of heat transfer coefficient was developed. With the new correlation, diameter, horizontal spacing, and vertical spacing of pin-fin array are optimized. Optimized plate-fin and pin-fin heat sinks are compared analytically. They were compared for various base plate dimensions, fin heights, temperature differences. In most regions, plate-fin heat sinks show better performance than pin-fin heat sinks.