Estudo experimental e numérico da transferência de calor por convecção natural em um gabinete parcialmente fechado

Abstract

Nowadays, the number of computers present in the everyday life of humanity is increasing and these have been increasing processing power. The processor is the electronic component responsible for receiving and managing the information from other computer’s components, requiring a large amount of energy, which generates heat. Thus, the study of heat dissipation is necessary to ensure it’s full functioning. In this work, OpenFOAM was used as a tool to simulate the heat transfer generated by the processor in a partially closed cabinet where two situations were analyzed: Heat dissipation with and without the heatsink, which allowed the visualization of the importance it has in the role of heat transfer. Both cases occurred with the same boundary condition for the fluid and the solid regions, having the same power of 10W for the solid representing the processor. With the numerical result it was possible to observe the field of temperature, velocity and the decrease of the temperature caused by the presence of the heatsink. To confirm the simulation results, a model with three power resistors was created to represent the heat generation, where the two cases were also numerically analyzed. Through the experimental result it was possible to observe an improvement in the heat dissipation caused by the heatsink, the visualization of the temperature field and served as a comparison parameter for the numerical result.