Thermal simulation and heat transfer optimization of electron equipment chassis based on FLOTHERM

Effect of plate-fin parameters on the cooling of high heat flux electronic chips was investigated based on FLOTHERM. The simulation results indicate that the maximum temperature (T-_max) decreases with the increase of base thickness (0.5-7mm) or the fin height (6-11mm). However, T-_max first decreases and then increases by increasing the number of internal fins (30-60). The optimized base thickness, fin height and number of internal fins are 2.8mm, 9.2mm and 45, respectively. Moreover, copper plates between hot spots and heat sink base were used to enhance the heat transfer process sequentially. The results show that T-_max decreases apparently by improving the heat transfer process near hot spots. In order to decrease the weight of heat sink, the optimized combination of base thickness and the height of copper plates (H _plate) were investigated. Considering the size restriction (H _plate + Base thickness=3.8mm), T-_max first decreases and then increases with the decrease of base thickness (2.8-1.0 mm). In this study, T-_max of the chassis with optimized PCB modules decreased by approximately 6 °C compared with the previous chassis. The simulation results in this study are referential for the design of electron equipment chassis.