NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF MIXED CONVECTION IN A RECTANGULAR ENCLOSURE WITH DIFFERENT NUMBERS AND ARRANGEMENTS OF DISCRETE HEAT SOURCES

The objective of this paper is to numerically investigate the cooling performance of electronic devices with an emphasis on the effects of the arrangement and number of electronic components. The analysis uses a two dimensional rectangular enclosure under combined natural and forced convection flow conditions and considers a range of Rayleigh numbers. Heat sources in the enclosure generate the natural convection flow and an externally sourced air stream through the enclosure generates the forced convection flow. The results show that increasing the Rayleigh number significantly improves the enclosure heat transfer process. At low Rayleigh numbers, placing more heat sources within the enclosure reduces the heat transfer rate from the sources and consequently increases their overall maximum temperature. The arrangement and number of heat sources have a considerable contribution to the cooling performance. However, increasing the Rayleigh number reduces this contribution.