Solved with COMSOL Multiphysics 4.

Heat Sink
Introduction
This model is intended as a first introduction to simulations of fluid flow and conjugate heat transfer. It shows the following important points: How to draw an air box around a device in order to model convective cooling in this box. How to set a total heat flux on a boundary using automatic area computation. How to display results in an efficient way using selections in data sets.

Model Definition
The modeled system consists of an aluminum heat sink for cooling of components in electronic circuits mounted inside a channel of rectangular cross section (see Figure 1). Such a set-up is used to measure the cooling capacity of heat sinks. Air enters the channel at the inlet and exits the channel at the outlet. The base surface of the heat sink receives a 1W heat flux from an external heat source. All other external faces are thermally insulated.

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inlet

outlet

base surface

Figure 1: The model set-up including channel and heat sink. The cooling capacity of the heat sink can be determined by monitoring the temperature of the base surface of the heat sink. The model solves a thermal balance for the heat sink and the air flowing in the rectangular channel. Thermal energy is transported through conduction in the aluminum heat sink and through conduction and convection in the cooling air. The temperature field is continuous across the internal surfaces between the heat sink and the air in the channel. The temperature is set at the inlet of the channel. The base of the heat sink receives a 1W heat flux. The transport of thermal energy at the outlet is dominated by convection. The flow field is obtained by solving one momentum balance for each space coordinate (x, y, and z) and a mass balance. The inlet velocity is defined by a parabolic velocity profile for fully developed laminar flow. At the outlet, a constant pressure is combined with the assumption that there are no viscous stresses in the direction perpendicular to the outlet. At all solid surfaces, the velocity is set to zero in all three spatial directions. The thermal conductivity of air, the heat capacity of air, and the air density are all temperature-dependent material properties.

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You can find all of the settings mentioned above in the physics interface for Conjugate Heat Transfer in COMSOL Multiphysics. You also find the material properties, including their temperature dependence, in the Material Browser.

Results
In Figure 2, the hot wake behind the heat sink visible in the plot is a sign of the convective cooling effects. The maximum temperature, reached at the heat sink base, is slightly more than 375K.

Figure 2: The surface plot shows the temperature field on the channel walls and the heat sink surface, while the arrow plot shows the flow velocity field around the heat sink.

Model Library path: Heat_Transfer_Module/Tutorial_Models/heat_sink

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Modeling Instructions
MODEL WIZARD

1 Go to the Model Wizard window. 2 Click Next. 3 In the Add physics tree, select Heat Transfer>Conjugate Heat Transfer>Laminar Flow (nitf). 4 Click Next. 5 In the Studies tree, select Preset Studies>Stationary. 6 Click Finish.
GLOBAL DEFINITIONS

Parameters
1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Global Definitions and choose Parameters.

Define some parameters that you can use when specifying the channel dimensions.
2 Go to the Settings window for Parameters. 3 Locate the Parameters section. In the Parameters table, enter the following settings:
NAME EXPRESSION DESCRIPTION

L_channel W_channel H_channel U0 GEOMETRY 1

7[cm] 3[cm] 1.5[cm] 5[cm/s]

Channel length Channel width Channel height Mean inlet velocity

Import 1
1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Model 1 (mod1)>Geometry 1 and choose Import. 2 Go to the Settings window for Import. 3 Locate the Import section. Click the Browse button. 4 Browse to the models Model Library folder and double-click the file
heat_sink_n19.mphbin.

5 Click the Build Selected button. 6 In the Model Builder window, right-click Geometry 1 and choose Work Plane.

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Rectangle 1
1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Geometry and choose Rectangle. 2 Go to the Settings window for Rectangle. 3 Locate the Size section. In the Width edit field, type L_channel. 4 In the Height edit field, type W_channel. 5 Locate the Position section. In the x edit field, type -4.5e-2. 6 In the y edit field, type -W_channel/2. 7 Click the Build Selected button.

Extrude 1
1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Work Plane 1 (wp1) and choose Extrude. 2 Go to the Settings window for Extrude. 3 Locate the Distances from Work Plane section. In the associated table, enter the

following settings:
DISTANCES (M)

H_channel

4 Click the Build Selected button. 5 Click the Go to Default 3D View button on the Graphics toolbar.
MATERIALS

1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Model 1 (mod1)>Materials and choose Open Material Browser. 2 Go to the Material Browser window. 3 Locate the Materials section. In the Materials tree, select Built-In>Air. 4 Right-click and choose Add Material to Model from the menu.

Air
By default, the first material you add applies to all domains. Typically, you can leave this setting and add other materials that override the default material where applicable. In this example, specify aluminum for Domain 2:
1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Materials and choose Open Material Browser. 2 Go to the Material Browser window. 3 Locate the Materials section. In the Materials tree, select Built-In>Aluminum 3003-H18.

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4 Right-click and choose Add Material to Model from the menu.

Aluminum 3003-H18
1 In the Model Builder window, click Aluminum 3003-H18. 2 Select Domain 2 only.
C O N J U G A T E H E A T TR A N S F E R ( N I T F )

Fluid 1
1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Model 1 (mod1)>Conjugate Heat Transfer (nitf) and choose Fluid. 2 Select Domain 1 only.

Inlet 1
1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Conjugate Heat Transfer (nitf) and choose the

boundary condition Laminar Flow>Inlet.

2 Select Boundary 115 only. 3 Go to the Settings window for Inlet. 4 Locate the Boundary Condition section. From the Boundary condition list, select Laminar inflow. 5 Locate the Laminar Inflow section. In the Uav edit field, type U0.

Outlet 1
1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Conjugate Heat Transfer (nitf) and choose the

boundary condition Laminar Flow>Outlet.

2 Select Boundary 1 only.

Temperature 1
1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Conjugate Heat Transfer (nitf) and choose the

boundary condition Heat Transfer>Temperature.

2 Select Boundary 115 only.

The default temperature, corresponding to 20 degrees Celsius or 68 degrees Fahrenheit, applies at the inlet.

Heat Flux 1
1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Conjugate Heat Transfer (nitf) and choose the

boundary condition Heat Transfer>Heat Flux.

2 Select Boundary 8 only. 3 Go to the Settings window for Heat Flux.

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4 Locate the Heat Flux section. Click the Total heat flux button. 5 In the qtot edit field, type 1.

Outflow 1
1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Conjugate Heat Transfer (nitf) and choose the

boundary condition Heat Transfer>Outflow.

2 Select Boundary 1 only.
MESH 1

Free Tetrahedral 1
In the Model Builder window, right-click Model 1 (mod1)>Mesh 1 and choose Free Tetrahedral.

Size 1
1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Free Tetrahedral 1 and choose Size. 2 Go to the Settings window for Size. 3 Locate the Geometric Entity Selection section. From the Geometric entity level list,

select Domain.
4 Select Domain 1 only. 5 Locate the Element Size section. From the Predefined list, select Finer. 6 Click the Build All button.
STUDY 1

1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Study 1 and choose Compute.

To reproduce Figure 2, define a selection of walls used in the post-processing.

DEFINITIONS

Walls
1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Model 1 (mod1)>Definitions and choose Selections>Explicit. 2 Go to the Settings window for Explicit. 3 Locate the Input Entities section. From the Geometric entity level list, select Boundary. 4 Right-click Explicit 1 and choose Rename. 5 Go to the Rename Explicit dialog box and type walls in the New name edit field. 6 Click OK.

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7 Select Boundaries 3 and 5114 only.

RESULTS

Data Sets
1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Results>Data Sets>Solution 1 and choose Add Selection. 2 Go to the Settings window for Selection. 3 Locate the Geometric Entity Selection section. From the Geometric entity level list,

select Boundary.
4 From the Selection list, select walls.

Temperature (nitf)
1 In the Model Builder window, click Results>Temperature (nitf). 2 Go to the Settings window for 3D Plot Group. 3 Locate the Data section. From the Data set list, select Solution 1. 4 Right-click Results>Temperature (nitf) and choose Arrow Volume. 5 Go to the Settings window for Arrow Volume. 6 In the upper-right corner of the Expression section, click Replace Expression. 7 From the menu, choose Conjugate Heat Transfer (Laminar Flow)>Velocity field (u,v,w). 8 Go to the Settings window for Arrow Volume. 9 Locate the Arrow Positioning section. Find the x grid points subsection. In the Points

edit field, type 40.

10 Find the y grid points subsection. In the Points edit field, type 20. 11 Find the z grid points subsection. From the Entry method list, select Coordinates. 12 In the Coordinates edit field, type 5e-3. 13 Right-click Arrow Volume 1 and choose Color Expression. 14 Go to the Settings window for Color Expression. 15 In the upper-right corner of the Expression section, click Replace Expression. 16 From the menu, choose Conjugate Heat Transfer (Laminar Flow)>Velocity magnitude (nitf.U). 17 Click the Plot button.

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