Enhancement of convection cooling of integrated circuit components

An experimental study is conducted of heated rectangular blocks cooled by forced convection in a horizontal channel. The experimental model represents a computer circuit board with heated chips. The investigated physical situation is presented schematically. In the grooved channel, two main flow regions can be recognized: (i) the main channel flow and the recirculating flow in the groove. In laminar, steady state conditions, there is no exchange of fluid between the two regions. The warm fluid is trapped in the groove, and the heat transfer is governed mainly by diffusion. The role of self-sustained oscillations in the enhancement of heat transfer is investigated. Passive solutions to improve heat transfer on the basic geometry will be explored. In order to efficiently exploit self-sustained oscillatory flows to improve heat transfer, good understanding of the underlying flow and heat transfer phenomena is essential.