Staggered heat sinks with aerodynamic cooling fins

The effect of aerodynamic shaping of the cooling fins in staggered heat sinks is numerically studied. It is shown that by rounding the cooling fins, the aerodynamic efficiency is increased without affecting the thermal efficiency. Three different geometries (in-line rectangular, staggered rectangular and rounded staggered shape) have been compared. These three different layouts were studied to obtain the best ratio between the removed heat and the energy spent to drive the coolant flow through the cooling fins. The main purpose of the paper is to determine the influence of the rounded shape on the average performance. As an example, it was found that a rounded staggered fin layout removes the same heat for an incident air velocity of 4 m/s as a classical in-line fin layout with a higher air speed of 6 m/s, with a reduction of fan power consumption by more than 60%. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.