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ISSN Online: 2379-1748

8th Thermal and Fluids Engineering Conference (TFEC)
March, 26-29, 2023, College Park, MD, USA

EFFECT OF GEOMETRIC PARAMETERS ON THE HEAT TRANSFER PERFORMANCE OF COMPUTER CPU COOLERS

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DOI: 10.1615/TFEC2023.cbf.045036

Abstract

Heat Transfer analysis on computer Central Processing Unit (CPU) coolers has increased over the last few decades. The reason is simple; the more powerful a computer becomes, the more it demands efficient cooling of the processor for its safe operation. A cooler does the job of cooling the computer processor. CPU coolers that are widely available in the market are mainly either cooled by air or by water. But a scientific study on either kind of cooler does not say much about over-cooling or under cooling. Depending on the design, geometric parameters differ. The present study focuses on the geometric parameters that affect the heat transfer rate in an air cooled CPU cooler for desktop computers. For such applications, major geometric parameters are fin thickness, inter-fin air gap, heat pipe diameter, length, and width of the fin. Conduction in the plate fins and convection in the inter-fin air gaps can present a conjugate heat transfer problem. Initially, the Nusselt number correlation employs the original dimensions of the cooler. Later, changes in the various parameters from a lower to an upper range are examined to record the changes in results. The computational analysis suggests that differences in the air gap and heat pipe diameters have more significant effects than other geometric parameters. This study also draws a correlation between the geometric parameters. Studying these parameters will allow manufacturers of CPU coolers to optimize the design geometry.