Thermal Management of Electronic Chips in a Channel Using Input Power to Control Flow Velocity

Abstract

In this research, thermal management of an electronic device using the input power is investigated numerically using the finite element method. The considered geometry consists of a horizontal channel with three volumetrically heated chips mounted on the bottom wall of the channel. The magnitude of the channel’s inlet velocity is varied with the variation of heat generation in the chips. The thermal characteristics of the system are presented, and compared with thermal characteristics of a system at a steady state condition. The effect of the Reynolds number and the oscillating period of the heat generation on the chips’ average temperature and Nusselt number is presented. The pressure drop in the channel is also calculated. The results indicated that the transient operating condition causes temperature to be higher than steady state by more than 45%, and difference between the transient and steady operations is reduced if the frequency is high. However, flow frequency has nearly no effect on the pressure drop in the channel.