Influence of Fan Setting Height on the Cooling Performance of a Plate-Fin-Type Heat Sink with Micro-Processor

Abstract

The Cooling performance of a plate fin-type heat sink equipped with a cooling fan was investigated experimentally. The heat sink was 80 mm long, 43 mm wide, and 24 mm in height, (including the 4-mm-thick base). The cooling fan was 40×40×15 mm and was set to direct the air flow vertically at the downstream half of the heat sink. We focused on the influence of the height that the fan was set at, which we varied from 5 to 20 mm, had on the heat transfer coefficient of the heat sink. The maximum value of the heat transfer coefficient was achieved at a setting height of 5 mm. At this heigth, the volumetric heat transfer coefficient was 1.8 times as high as with a parallel flow under the same fan power. This indicates that the cooling performance of heat sinks with cooling fan can be improved by using this kind of compact structure.