Passive Heat Transfer in Solid-State Lighting: Relaxing the Boussinesq Approximation Analytically in the Vertical Channel

Abstract

Analytical relations between the heat flux, temperature rise, thermal boundary layer thickness, and characteristic velocity have been derived for the two-dimensional vertical channel, without use of the Boussinesq approximation. Results have been put into the context of well-established scaling behavior in the literature. In addition, useful implications of the analytical results have been described, including a criterion to determine the suitability of a heat-sink configuration to a particular application.