On the Use of Point Source Solutions for Forced Air Cooling of Electronic Components—Part I: Thermal Wake Models for Rectangular Heat Sources

Abstract

Analytical solutions are presented for the temperature field that arises from the application of a source of heat on an adiabatic plate or board when the fluid is represented as a uniform flow with an effective turbulent diffusivity, i.e., the so-called UFED flow model. Solutions are summarized for a point source, a one-dimensional strip source, and a rectangular source of heat. The ability to superpose the individual kernel solutions to obtain the temperature field due to multiple sources is demonstrated. The point source solution reveals that the N−1 law commonly observed for the centerline thermal wake decay for three-dimensional arrays is predicted by the point source solution for the UFED model. Examination of the solution for rectangular sources shows that the thermal wake approaches the point source behavior downstream from the source, suggesting a new scaling for the far thermal wake based on the total component power and a length scale given by ε/U. The new scaling successfully collapses the thermal wake for several sizes of components and provides a fundamental basis for experimental observations previously made for arrays of three-dimensional components.