Geometric location and power distribution for discrete heat sources on a vertical flat plate with natural convection

Abstract

The current development of consumer electronics, driven by the effort to manufacture smaller products with increased performance, has amplified the chance for inducing higher thermal stresses to these systems. In an effort to devise more effective cooling methods for these systems, many scholars have studied the convective cooling of discrete heating elements. This report discusses a methodology for fabricating and testing a suitable flat plate design with discrete heating elements for both natural and forced convection cooling experiments. There were two plate design attempts: (i) an aluminum plate and (ii) a R3315 hydrostatic-resistance plastic foam plate. For the purpose of conducting experiments for the discrete heating elements, the foam plate design was found to be an appropriate design. After designing a proper foam plate, several experiments were conducted for the natural convection case. The combination of parameters such as the geometric location and power output ratio between heaters that resulted in the maximum thermal conductance were studied.