Using the Concept of Dummy Heat Sources for Heat Transfer Enhancement in a Vertical Channel

S. Durgam [1], A. Shrivastav [2], S. P. Venkateshan [1], T. Sundararajan [1],
[1] Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
[2] Defense Research and development Organization, Bangalore, Karnataka, India

Published in 2016

Laminar forced convection is studied in a vertical rectangular channel with seven discrete heat sources and dummy heat sources mounted on a wall. The position of seven heat sources is fixed in an optimal arrangement. The heat transfer effects are investigated by numerical simulation and validated experiments by arranging six and eight dummy heat sources in different configurations. The heat flux of 1500 W/m^2 and the air velocities of 0.6, 1, and 1.4 m/s are considered. The bakelite, FR4 and the copper clad board are used as substrate board materials. The Reynolds number and the Nusselt number are respectively: 6560 ≤ Re ≤ 13000 and 1.5 ≤ Nu ≤ 3. The governing equations are solved using the finite element method in conjugate heat transfer interface of COMSOL Multiphysics® software. The dummy heat sources have a significant influence on the flow and heat transfer for low Reynolds numbers. In general, cases which show the lowest temperature distributions on the modules are those with copper clad board and six dummy heat sources.