Thermal design of parallel plate heat sinks for electronic packages: a parametric study

Summary form only given. The author describes a methodology for the design of parallel plate heat sinks and presents a parametric study of the effect of geometrical and flow variations on thermal performance. The overall thermal resistance and pressure drop of the heat sink were determined based on variations in the driving temperature difference, coolant flowrate and properties and the fin material, height, pitch, and width. Some combinations of geometrical and hydrodynamic conditions display a highly nonlinear relationship between optimal flowrate and input power. Validation of the modeling method is addressed by the comparison of the predicted performance to experimental data found in the literature. Two general cases are considered; the optimal design point for an air cooled multichip module and the performance limit of a liquid cooled heat sink attached to an individual high powered chip.<>