Heat Sink FEA
Heat Sink FEA
(OP)
Hello,
I'm starting to work on thermal FEA. Previously, I've only completed structural analyses so this is very new to me. I have a heat sink that I've powered up and measured the temperature of (using a thermocouple). Then I modeled the sink in CAD and I'm trying to analyze it. My problem is that I'm unsure of the material type. I'm guessing it is aluminum but my analysis doesn't exhibit nearly the same temperature range as my measurements (2 degrees vs. 11 degrees). I'm applying convection condition to the surfaces that reside in the ambient air and I'm using a convection coeffic of 10.
Does anyone have insights? My assumptions are wrong or my material is wrong. Does anyone know of any good heat transfer FEA tutorials?
Thanks,
M
I'm starting to work on thermal FEA. Previously, I've only completed structural analyses so this is very new to me. I have a heat sink that I've powered up and measured the temperature of (using a thermocouple). Then I modeled the sink in CAD and I'm trying to analyze it. My problem is that I'm unsure of the material type. I'm guessing it is aluminum but my analysis doesn't exhibit nearly the same temperature range as my measurements (2 degrees vs. 11 degrees). I'm applying convection condition to the surfaces that reside in the ambient air and I'm using a convection coeffic of 10.
Does anyone have insights? My assumptions are wrong or my material is wrong. Does anyone know of any good heat transfer FEA tutorials?
Thanks,
M





RE: Heat Sink FEA
RE: Heat Sink FEA
The convection coefficient is a function of flow velocity. For still air I tyipcally use about 5W/mK as an estimate.
If the heat sink is in still air, radiation effects may be significant.
There could also be issues with how you measured the temperature. Hard to really tell where things went wrong.