Numerical and Experimental Study on the Heat Dissipation Performance of a Novel System

Abstract

In order to better release the heat generated by the electronic components, a novel heat dissipation system is proposed, which combines a microchannel heat pipe (MHP) with a high thermal conductivity and a radiative plate with a high emissivity at nighttime. First, a simple testing rig was made with an MHP and a radiative plate, where the radiative plate was made of acrylic resin, a curing agent, thinner, and aluminum plate, and had strong radiative cooling at nighttime. Second, the mathematical model was initially established and verified using experiments, where it was shown that the agreement between numerical and experimental data was well within experimental uncertainties. Comprehensive simulation investigations were conducted by varying wind speed, relative humidity, the cloudiness coefficient, dimension of the radiative plate, and tilted angle. The results show that: (1) the emissivity of the radiative plate was about 0.311 in the daytime and about 0.908 in the nighttime; (2) the influence of wind speed on reducing the component surface temperature was greater than the cloudiness coefficient and relative humidity; (3) the width of the radiative plate had a greater effect on heat dissipation than on its length, and the maximum size of radiative plate was recommended to be 400 mm × 400–500 mm (length × width), which was equipped with a single MHP (width: 60 mm). Additionally, the tilted angle of the radiative plate should be kept within 30° of the horizontal level. In conclusion, the novel heat dissipation system had a superior application value for providing assisted electronic component cooling in the nighttime.