Experimental Optimization of Passive Cooling of a Heat Source Array Flush-Mounted on a Vertical Plate

Abstract

Abstract:Heat sources, such as power electronics for offshore power, could be cooled passively-mainly by conduction and natural convection. The obvious advantage of this strategy is its high reliability. However, it must be implemented in an efficient manner (i.e., the area needs to be kept low to limit the construction costs). In this study, the placement of multiple heat sources mounted on a vertical plate was studied experimentally for optimization purposes. We chose a regular distribution, as this is likely to be the preferred choice in the construction process. We found that optimal spacing can be determined for a targeted source density by tuning the vertical and horizontal spacing between the heat sources. The optimal aspect ratio was estimated to be around two.

Optimized distribution of a large number of power electronics components cooled by conjugate turbulent natural convection

“…The same conclusion still holds true for other sets of similar distributions. This observation is in good agreement to the results presented in [37]. For the optimal staggered distribution, it can also be noticed that distribution number 15 both to an aspect ratio around 0.8 (see Figure 9).…”

“…a 3x3 array). The details of the experimental setup can be found in [37,38]. A K-type thermocouple of diameter 12,7 µm was used to measured temperature in the air flow (the ambient temperature was measured with a PT100 sensor immersed in water and the data were acquired with a multimeter NI PXI 1031 installed in a NI 4071 DMM unit).…”

Free Convective Heat Transfer in a Closed Gap between Concentric Semi-Hemispheres

“…The outer wall (2) of radius R e is isothermal, maintained at a temperature T c . The back and lateral faces of the closed enclosure are thermally insulated (3). Distance L between the hot and cold walls (air layer) varies according to the considered enclosure's aspect ratio:…”

“…Several works dealing with quantification of heat transfer by free convection have been carried out in both variable regime and steady state. Different fluids and flow regimes have been examined for cavities or spaces of various shapes [1][2][3][4][5][6]. The hemispherical geometry has been treated recently with experimental and numerical approaches, applied to some engineering fields, such as buildings and renewable energy.…”

Temperature and velocity measurements in a buoyant flow induced by a heat source array on a vertical plate

“…The purpose was to test different configurations in order to optimize the heat transfer. The influence of the spacing between identical heat sources on the overall thermal resistance has been studied for optimization purposes in [10]. A 3x3 heater array in an enclosure with liquid cooling has been studied 30 numerically for low Rayleigh numbers (< 10 8 ) in [11].…”