Effect of Pin Fin Density of the Thermal Performance of Unshrouded Pin Fin Heat Sinks

Abstract

An experimental investigation was conducted to examine the effect of pin fin density on thermal resistance of unshrouded pin fin heat sinks. Six heat sinks with different number of round pin fins were constructed. Heat sink thermal resistance was calculated by maintaining its base temperature constant. For these experiments, air flow varied from natural to high velocity forced convection. The results showed that thermal resistance did not decrease with increase of number of pin fins. An optimum number of pin fins existed beyond which thermal resistance actually increased. The study also showed that thermal resistance was a function of air velocity and governing flow pattern. Comparison of the heat transfer coefficient (h) and pin fin surface area showed that h decreased dramatically as surface area increased. The results showed that pin fin heat sinks with small number of pins had the best performance at low and moderate forced convection cooling.