Improvement of cooling system of electrical equipment using simulation of airflow and heat transfer

Abstract

The research is devoted to the results of air flow and heat transfer simulation application in the design of compact electrical equipment with the aim of increasing the efficiency of the cooling system. The design of electrical equipment involves not only the creation of an ergonomic, attractive shape, but also to the solutions to overheating problems. Excessive heat is to be emitted to the environment, and for small size devices the necessity is the properly designed accelerated air flow through the system. In order to find out the high risk areas in the device, which are under the risk of substantial overheating due to inadequate air flow intensity, the simulation model of airflow and heat transfer processes for the particular device was developed in the Solidworks software. The experimental device with the axial fan used for air flow supply to the heated areas was made to evaluate the temperature and air flow velocity. Comparison of the experimental and simulation results showed that the simulated air flow speed is describing the real situation with the experimental flow measurements in the device with 91 % coincidence. Temperature measurements differed from the simulations only by 7 % in some areas, but the distribution pattern remained. Studies of the air flow trajectory and speed revealed the tendency of negative intercorrelation of the air flow rate and the surface temperature.