Chip radiator heat sink - QuickField simulation example
Engineering question
How to calculate radiator thermal resistance?
Answer
Thermal resistance may be calculated as the ratio of the temperature difference to the heat flux obtained from a 3D thermal model.
Typical applications
electronic heat sinks, PCB cooling structures, semiconductor heat spreaders
Download
- Download simulation files (files may be viewed using any QuickField Edition).
Simulation problem
Problem Type3D problem of heat transfer.
Geometry
All length units are in millimeters.
Given
Thermal conductivity of metal λ = 270 W/K-m.
Convection coefficient α = 15 W/(K·m²).
Ambient air temperature T0 = 20 °C.
Chip heat flux Q = 10 W.
Task
Calculate radiator thermal resistance.
Solution
Thermal resistance is the ratio of Temperature difference to Heat flux. As the heat flux is an input parameter, QuickField task is to calculate the temperature distribution.
QuickField takes an input heat flux as watts per meter square [W/m²]. So we should divide Q [W] by the chip surface area (which is 20mm x 20mm = 0.0004 m²).
Results
Temperature distribution in the heat sink:
Video
- Chip radiator heat sink. Watch on YouTube