THERMAL PERFORMANCE OF PLATE FIN HEAT SINK COMBINED WITH COPPER FOAM

Abstract

This paper presents the experimental investigation and comparison of thermal performance of plate fin heat sinks combined with copper foam, flat plate heat sinks combined with copper foam, and plate fin heat sinks. The effect of air velocity, pore density of the copper foam, and heat flux on thermal resistance and pressure drop is investigated. The experiments are carried out at air velocity ranging between 1 m/s and 5 m/s and heat flux ranging between 9.48 kW/m(2) and 12.59 kW/m(2). Copper foams with similar porosity and different pore density of 30 PPI, 40 PPI, and 50 PPI are used. The experimental results showed that the thermal resistance of PFHSfoam and FPHSfoam is decreased by 13.57% and 10.89% when the pore density increases at a low mass flux (G 2.89 kg/m(2).s for PFHSfoam and G > 3.88 kg/m(2).s for FPHSfoam), it is decreased by 7.97% and 4.39%. The thermal resistance of PFHS, PFHSfoam, and FPHSfoam changes slightly by the varying heat flux. The total pressure drop of PFHSfoam and FPHSfoam increases by about 1.72 times and 2.02 times on increase in the pore density between 30 PPI and 50 PPI. Under a similar pumping power, PFHSfoam gives the lowest thermal resistance, and thermal resistance of PFHSfoam and FPHSfoam is lower than that from PR-IS by about 40.74% and 25.18%.