Enhanced natural convection heat transfer of a chimney-based radial heat sink

• Published in: Energy conversion and management Vol. 108; pp. 422 - 428
• Main Authors: Li, Bin, Baik, Young-Jin, Byon, Chan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 15.01.2016
• Subjects: Chimney effect; Chimneys; Convection; Direct power generation; Gravitation; gravity; Heat sinks; Heat transfer; Natural convection; Optimization; Orientation; Radial heat sink; Chimney effect; Natural convection; Radial heat sink
• ISSN: 0196-8904; 1879-2227
• DOI: 10.1016/j.enconman.2015.11.037

•Chimney-based radial heat sinks are studied subject to natural convection.•The effect of various parameters on the dimensionless temperature is investigated.•The orientation effects of different chimney-based radial heat sinks are investigated.•The heat sink with optimal structure enhances the thermal performance by up to 20%. In this study, the natural convection heat transfer from chimney-based radial heat sinks was investigated numerically and experimentally. The thermal performance of a radial heat sink with chimney was estimated and compared with that of a radial heat sink without a chimney. The effects on the heat sinks’ thermal performance were investigated in regard to the orientation angle with respect to gravity (0°⩽θ⩽180°), the fin number (15⩽N⩽30), and the distance between the base plate and chimney (5mm⩽Hc⩽25mm). The results show that there exist optimal values for Hc and N. The orientation angles 0° and 45° result in slightly better thermal performance than 135° and 180°, while 90° results in the worst thermal performance. The chimney-based heat sink with optimal structure enhances the thermal performance by up to 20% compared with the radial heat sink without a chimney.