On the thermal analysis of a plate-fin heat sink considering the thermal-entry length effect

Highlights: • Dissipated convective heat strongly depends on convection coefficient. Two correlations were developed for so and validated. • A clear error in air temperature distribution along the heat sink was seen if coefficient were not properly selected. • The error decreases when thermal-entry length effect is considered, as for thermal flow through short conduits as Pr <1. - Abstract: Cooling electric and electronic components is very imperative to keep these components functioning properly. The heat sink is a device used to dissipate generated heat and accordingly cool these components. Airflow through heat sinks experiences velocity and thermal boundary layer variation that significantly affects the heat transfer process and heat sink performance as a result. The present study aims at developing an analytical model that compares the effect of adopting fully-developed or thermally-developing flow on convective heat transfer coefficient and accordingly longitudinal predicted air temperature distribution. Experiments on plate-fin heat sinks were carried out to validate the developed model. The results quantitatively showed a noticeable overprediction in the air temperature distribution when the heat transfer coefficient was estimated based on a fully-developed assumption. On the other hand, a close agreement between predicted and measured values was noticed when the thermal-entry length effect was considered.