Impingement air cooled plate fin heat sinks. Part I - Pressure drop model

The performance of impingement air cooled plate fin heat sinks differs significantly from that of parallel flow plate fin heat sinks. A semi-empirical zonal model has been published to predict impingement flow in plate fin heat sinks. This model is not convenient to apply since it involves a large number of equations. A simple impingement flow pressure drop model based on developing laminar flow in rectangular channels is proposed. To test the validity of the model, experimental measurements of pressure drop are performed with heat sinks of various impingement inlet widths, fin spacings, fin heights and airflow velocities. It was found that the predictions agree with experimental data within 20% at channel Reynolds numbers less than 1200. The simple model is suitable for parametric design studies.