The numerical analysis of natural convective heat transfer of vertical and horizontal pin-fin arrays of pin-fin air cooling module for electronic packaging applications

In the present study, the natural convective heat transfer of vertical and horizontal pin-fin arrays of an air cooling module for electronic devices was numerically analyzed with respect to pin-fin shapes. The cross-sectional shapes of the pin-fin were changed from the square (the reference shape) to the long rectangle with same cross-sectional area and height. The vertical pin-fin arrangement had better heat transfer performance that the horizontal pin-fin arrangement. For both vertical and horizontal arrangements the pin-fin arrays had the best heat transfer performance when the aspect ratios had 2.56.