Optimization of Heat Sink Design and Fan Selection in Portable Electronics Environment

Modern portable electronics have seen component heat loads increasing, while the space available for heat dissipation has decreased, both factors working against the thermal designer. This requires that the thermal management system be optimized to attain the highest performance in the given space. While adding fins to the heat sink increases surface area, it also increases the pressure drop. This reduces the volumetric airflow, which also reduces the heat transfer coefficient. There exists a point at which the number of fins in a given area can be optimized to obtain the highest performance for a given fan. The primary goal of this paper is to find the optimization points for several different fan-heat sink designs. The secondary goal is to find a theoretical methodology that will accurately predict the optimization point and the expected performance.