A Parametric Thermal Analysis of Triangular Fins for Improved Heat Transfer in Forced Convection

Thermal management systems in electronic devices require a reduction in size due to improve the overall performance of the system. The aim is to improve the heat transfer with reduction in weight of the system. Fins are the extended surfaces that ease the heat transfer process by increasing the wetted surface area. The thermal diffusion in a fin is always affected by parameters like the size, the shape, the material, the relative arrangement, orientation and position of the fins, the working fluid and its velocity, etc. Moreover, an extended surface may affect the pressure gradient in the flow domain. In this article, a three dimensional (3D) system of aluminium fin system has been numerically modelled. Simulations are done for conjugate heat transfer problem with fins of triangular shape. The thermal analysis is performed for various input parameters viz., arrangements, orientation and the number of fins. The effect of these parameters are analysed based on Nusselt number, convective heat transfer coefficient, coefficient of friction and coefficient of pressure.