Geometrical evaluation of T-shaped high conductive pathway with thermal contact resistance for cooling of heat-generating medium. (May 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lorenzini, G.; Barreto, E.X.; Beckel, C.C.; Schneider, P.S.; Isoldi, L.A.; dos Santos, E.D.; Rocha, L.A.O.
• Is Part Of: International journal of heat and mass transfer. Volume 108:Part B(2017)
• Page Start: 1884
• Page End: 1893
• Publication Date: 2017-05
• Subjects: Constructal Design -- Thermal contact resistance -- T-shaped pathway -- Heat conduction; Heat -- Transmission -- Periodicals; Mass transfer -- Periodicals; Chaleur -- Transmission -- Périodiques; Transfert de masse -- Périodiques; Electronic journals; 621.4022
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2017.01.008
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0017-9310

Abstract

Highlights: Present work employs Constructal Design to evaluate numerically T-shaped conductive pathways. T-shaped conductive pathway is inserted in heat-generating solid with low thermal conductivity. The influence of thermal contact resistance over geometry of T-shaped pathway is evaluated. Consideration of thermal contact resistance strongly affected the thermal field of the system. Consideration of thermal contact resistance affected the optimal design of T-shaped pathways. Abstract: The present work employs Constructal Design to numerically evaluate the geometrical configuration which facilitates the heat transfer through a T-shaped conductive pathway and heat-generating volumetric medium with low thermal conductivity. It is inserted a third material placed between the conductive pathway and the heat-generating medium which acts as thermal contact resistance. The objective function is to minimize the maximum excess of temperature over the entire system (materials with high and low thermal conductivity and thermal contact resistance), i.e., reduce the hot spots of a system with uniform heat generation. The total volume is fixed, however the volume of the high thermal conductivity material as well as the amount of the material that represents the thermal contact resistance can vary. Considering all possible geometries the configuration was optimized by varying the lengths and widths of the two branches forming the "T'', keeping fixed the aspect ratio of the area of the conductive material with respect to the total area of the body. For the three times optimized geometry, the presence of thermal contact resistance changed the optimal length and width ratios in nearly 16% and 12% in comparison with optimal ratios achieved for the case with perfect thermal contact.