A comprehensive review of air-cooled heat sinks for thermal management of electronic devices

Heat sinks are important for efficient heat dissipation in electronic devices. Continuous heat dissipation is of utmost importance to keep the electronic devices below the maximum operating temperature. Several thermal management solutions for electronics cooling have been studied in the past, however, air-cooled heat sinks are one of the most widely adopted thermal management techniques employed in the industry. The recent past has shown the evolution of several other thermal management techniques such as liquid cooling and phase change material-based cooling for electronic devices. Despite the introduction of newer thermal management techniques mentioned above, the air-cooled heat sink is still considered to be an effective device because of its compatibility with a broad range of electronic components. The present review is an attempt to discuss major research contributions on air-cooled heat sinks. A detailed discussion on various heat sink geometries available in the open literature, heat transfer mechanism (active, passive, and radiation heat transfer) and effect of modifications on the thermo-hydraulic performance of air-cooled heat sinks has been presented.