An Air Cooled Heat Sink The following is a step-by-step procedure to generate a thermal model using TAS.

The model generated is completely fictitious but contains many of the elements available within TAS. After completing the tutorial, one should be ready to build a custom model. Each step is fully explained. A TAS model at each step in the model generation process can be found in the Tutorial directory. At the beginning of each section of the tutorial the model name is given. This way you can work on part of the tutorial now and finish later by loading the model at the step you finished last. To try a particular feature you can load the model at that step and try that feature. The problem to be modeled is one of a forced air-cooled heat sink as shown in the figure below. The heat sink is of the aluminum extruded design. The heat sink is 6 inches wide and 12 inches long. On the backside of the heat sink are mounted many electronic components. Many of the components are mounted directly to the heat sink while others are mounted to aluminum 'L' shaped brackets which are in turn bolted to the heat sink. It is desired to determine the mounting surface temperatures of all the electronic components.
9.0

0.5 0.1 6.0 0.5 0.5 0.1

1.5

1.0

0.5

2.0 2.0

3.5 7.0 12.0

0.5

0.1

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2.0

Air Flow

Heat Sink Fins

The thermal performance characteristics of the extrusion were derived from the vendor. A fan is used to blow air across the fins of the heat sink. It was determined from the vendor data for the fan and the characteristics of the heat sink that there will be an airflow rate of 50 cfm through the fins of the heat sink. The ambient air temperature is 25C. The vendor data shows the thermal resistance for a three inch length of extrusion, 8 inches wide, at the determined flow rate to be 0.45C per watt. This value accounts for the added surface area provided from the fins and the thermal efficiency of the fins. The actual fins of the heat sink need not be explicitly modeled. An effective heat transfer coefficient based on a flat surface area can be used and is calculated as follows. 1 R= Heff * area
Heff = 1 R * area

1 ( 0. 45 C / Watt * (3"*8")) = 0.092 Watts/(square inch-C) =

o

The heat sink will be modeled as a flat plate. The cooling fins of the sink will not be modeled explicitly. Convection will be modeled from one side of the heat sink. The air will be modeled with flow elements to account for the air temperature rise as it flows over the heat sink.
1.1 Planning The Model

There is always more than one way to create a model. They may all be correct but one may be more efficient than another. A little preplanning can save time in generating the model. One must decide how fine the model must be. Since the heat loading and geometry is not symmetric for this problem, the entire heat sink must be modeled. Since the heat loading is not symmetric, the airflow will be broken into three flow paths each containing one third of the flow delivered by the fan. This assumes that the flow does not mix as it flows through the heat sink. Due to the channeling effects of the heat sink fins, this is a valid assumption. From the model geometry and heat loading, it is decided that plate elements 0.5 inches square will be sufficient. To represent the air temperature rise along the heat sink, the heat sink will be broken into 8 flow segments in the flow direction. The air temperature will be determined at each location for each flow path. There are two ways the heat sink plates can be generated. The first and most obvious is to generate them all at one time. The second is to generate a small 1.5 inch by 2.0 inch plate meshed with 0.5 inch elements. This segment represents the segment of the heat sink which will convect to a single flow node. After these 12 plate elements are generated, convection elements can then be generated from the 12 elements to a single flow node. This portion of the model can then be copied many times to generate the entire heat sink model. This method would be more efficient since copying elements is a very quick process.
1.2 Generate Heat Sink Segment

First generate four nodes at the corners of the small heat sink segment. Select the Add>Node menu toolbar. The flow direction is considered the X direction and normal to the flow or the direction the Y direction. Enter the location of the first node, 0,0,0 by entering 0.0 in the X edit box, 0.0 in the Y edit box and 0.0 in the Z edit box and hitting the Add button. If you just hit the Add button, a 0.0 is taken as a blank cell. Next enter the location of the node at the other diagonal corner node at 1.5,2,0. Select the OK button to complete adding nodes. If the nodes are not clearly visible, select the View>Fit To Screen menu or the toolbar.

toolbar. Using the mouse, To generate the plates, select the Add>Plate>Diagonal menu or the move the trapbox such that the node at the location (0,0,0) is inside the trapbox. Hit the left button of the mouse. The node number for this node, number 1, will be added to the Node 1 edit box. Next select the other node. The node number for this node, number 2, will be added to the Node 2 edit box. If the node numbers are known, their numbers can be entered through the keyboard rather

than selecting them with the mouse. After the two nodes have been selected, enter a value of 3 in the X Increment edit box and a value of 4 in the Y Increment edit box. All geometric elements must reference a property table. This is where the thermal properties are defined and, for plate elements, their thickness is defined. Select the Add Property button to add a property. If a property had already been defined it could be selected in the Property drop down list. In the Add Property dialog box select the Thickness edit box and enter 0.1 inches. In the Property Name edit box enter Heat Sink. A property references a Material. The Material defines the thermal properties. To add a material to the model, hit the Add Material button. Select X Conductivity edit box. Enter a value of 3.9 for the thermal conductivity. As default, the Isotropic checkbox is selected making the thermal conductivity the same in all directions. This is the thermal conductivity of aluminum in units of Watts/(in-C). If you dont know the thermal conductivity, then select Al Alloy 6061-T6 from the Material Library drop down list. Select the OK button in the Material dialog then OK in the Property dialog. Back at the Add Plate Diagonal dialog box, the newly added property is automatically added to the Property list. Select the Add button to generate the plate elements. Twelve plate elements will be generated. More plate element can be added but for now we will continue with the next step. Select the OK button to drop the Add Plate Diagonal dialog box

The model to this point is called Step 1.mod found in the Tutorial directory
1.3 Adding Convection To The Heat Sink

Next convection elements will be generated from the plate elements to a single node which represents the local air temperature. First a node must be generated to represent the local air. Select toolbar. Generate a node at the location X = 0.75, Y = 1.0 and Z = the Add>Node menu or the -1.0 by entering these values in the appropriate edit box. Select the Add button to generate the node. The actual location of these nodes does not have a bearing on the answer. Select the OK button. toolbar. The Select checkbox in the Ambient Next select the Add>Convection menu or the section will be checked. Using the mouse, select the node just generated. The node number will be

added to the Ambient section. Notice that the Select checkbox in the Ambient section is automatically deselected, ready for the next step. As with geometric element, convection elements must reference the property table. This is where the heat transfer coefficient is defined. We could select property 1, Heat Sink, since many different types of elements can reference the same property or we could generate a new property. In both cases, a heat transfer coefficient must be defined for the convection elements. To add a property for the convection element, select the Add Property button. In the H. T. Coeff. edit box enter a heat transfer coefficient of 0.092 Watts/(in^2-C). Enter a property name for the property and select the OK button. Back in the Add Convection we must now select the surfaces which will define the heat transfer surface area. In our case we want to select the twelve plate elements. The plate elements can be selected one at a time by simply selecting the plate element. Plate elements are selected by picking the centroid of the element. All twelve elements can be selected at once by first checking the Window Select checkbox. The Element Type area of the dialog box allows you to filter what types of elements are selected. The default setting is All Surfaces. Since all we have are Plate elements there is no need to change this setting. Next box in the Plate elements with the mouse. Pick a corner of a box enclosing the Plate elements and depress the left button of the mouse. While holding the mouse button, expand the box to enclose all the Plate elements. When done so, let go of the mouse button. Twelve convection elements will be generated. A convection element is represented by a line from the Ambient Node to the center of the surface defining the convective surface area. The Count in the dialog will go to twelve. Select the OK button to accept the convection elements generated and drop the Add Convection dialog box. To view the model in three dimensions, select the View>Rotate menu, the select the toolbar. toolbar or simply

The model to this point is called Step 2.mod found in the Tutorial directory.
1.4 Generating The Rest Of The Heat Sink

Next we must copy this portion of the model to generate the entire heat sink. Select the Edit>Copy toolbar. The segment we have created so far is 1.5 inches wide. We'll copy this menu or the portion of the heat sink 1.5 inches to the right, the X direction, so the nodes in the new segment aligns with the existing segment. So enter a value of 1.5 in the dX edit box. We don't have to enter zeros in the dY and dZ edit boxes since an empty cell is assumed to be zero. The entire heat sink is 12 inches therefore we'll copy this portion 7 times to generate the full width. Therefore enter the

value 7 in the Count edit box. Now that we have defined how far in the X, Y and Z directions we want to copy the elements and how many times we want to do it, we must now defined what we want to copy. We want to copy all components of the model we have generated so far. This is simply done by selecting the Copy Visible button. If we select the View>Fit To Screen menu or the we'll see that the entire width of the heat sink was generated. toolbar

You can see there are many more features in the Edit Copy dialog box. The Delta checkbox is used to get the distance between two nodes on the screen. Two nodes are selected and the X, Y and Z distances between the two are entered into the dX, dY and dZ edit boxes. When elements are selected using the Window Select option elements can be filtered using the Filter check boxes. If you know the element numbers you can enter them in the Text Input area of the dialog box. Select the OK button to accept the new elements generated and drop the Edit Copy dialog box. We now have a third of the heat sink since it is 6.0 inches high. Before we generate the rest of the heat sink we'll generate the flow path that will account for the temperature rise of the air as it passes over this portion of the heat sink. We now have a third of the heat sink since it is 6.0 inches high. Before we generate the rest of the heat sink we'll generate the flow path that will account for the temperature rise of the air as it passes over this portion of the heat sink. The model to this point is called Step 3.mod found in the Tutorial directory.
1.5 Generate The Flow Elements

Flow elements are used to account for the temperature rise of the air as it passes over the heat sink. The flow element links together the nodes representing the local fluid or air. An additional node must be generated at the beginning of the flow path to define the inlet air temperature. The order the nodes are linked will define the flow path or direction.

Generate the flow inlet node

To generate the inlet node, rotate the model to see the side view. To do so select View>Rotate or toolbar and rotate to 90,0,0 or select View>Restore View>XZ or the toolbar. From the this view, the inlet of the air to the heat sink is on the left. We want to generate a node to the left that will define the air inlet temperature. Instead of generating a node (to do so we must know the X, Y and Z location), we will copy the left most flow node. To do so select the Edit>Copy menu toolbar. To get the distance to the left, check the Delta checkbox. Next select the second or the flow node, then the first flow node. The distance between the nodes is automatically placed in the dX, dY and dZ edit boxes. The value in the dX edit box should be -1.5. Next select the left most flow node. A new node will be generated. If the new node is off the screen select the View>Fit To toolbar. If the dialog box is covering the toolbars simply grab the blue area at the Screen or the top of the dialog box and move the box to a new location on the screen. Hit the OK button.
Generate the flow path

toolbar. There are Now we're ready to add the flow path. Select the Add>Flow menu or the many elements that do not have to reference the property table. If the property is to be temperature or time dependent or thermostatically controlled then it must reference the property table. It is recommended to have all elements reference the property table. This make it very easy later on to make changes to the model. Either enter a value of 25 in the Inlet Temp edit box and a value of 9.5 in the MdotCp edit box or hit the Add Property button. In the later case, enter 25 in the Temperature edit box and 9.5 in the MdotCp edit box. Enter a Property Name of Flow then hit the OK button. Next select the node representing the fluid first selecting the inlet node we just generated then the rest of the nodes in order. Remember, the order the nodes are selected dictates the flow path or direction. A line will be drawn along the flow path. If you select the wrong node, hit the right button of the mouse and redo the selection. When complete select the Add button. If you made a mistake select the Undo button and try it again. The Count will go to 1. Hit the OK button. The model to this point is called Step 4.mod found in the Tutorial directory.
Generate the rest of the heat sink Note: If you are using the demonstration version of TAS, skip the next step. If the model is copied two times it will be too large to be solved in the demonstration version.

Rotate the model to the XY plane by hitting the

toolbar. The heat sink is 6 inches high. We

want to copy the existing portion of the heat sink twice. Select the Edit>Copy menu or the toolbar. Select the Delta checkbox and pick a node along the bottom edge of the heat sink. Next select a node along the top edge of the heat sink. The distance between the nodes is automatically placed in the dX, dY and dZ edit boxes. The value in the dY edit box should be 2.0. The values in the dX and dZ edit boxes should be 0.0. If not, select the boxes and change their value. In the Count edit box enter a value of 2 since we want two copies. Now that we have defined where to

copy the elements and how many, select the Copy Visible button. If we select the View>Fit To
Screen menu or the

toolbar we'll see that the entire heat sink was generated.

The model to this point is called Step 5.mod found in the Tutorial directory.
1.6 Thermally Connect The Heat Sink

At this point, the model actually consists of 24 model segments, or 8 segments if you skipped the last section, that are not thermally attached. In the copying process, nodes were generated at all of the model segments. Multiple nodes therefore exist at the same location in the model. A visual method to determine if the model is thermally connected is to select Display>Outline>Entire Model. If this is done at this point in the model generation, lines will be drawn around all 8 or 24 model segments.

After this step we will do this again. Select the View>Refresh menu or the the model.

toolbar to redraw

toolbar. This To connect all plates in the model, select the Solve>Compact Equiv. menu or the will combine nodes at the same locations in the model and delete any nodes not connected to elements. In the Equivalence edit box a tolerance is given. This is the tolerance that will be used to determine if nodes are at the same location. It is important that the tolerance value is smaller than the distance between any two nodes in the model. When the OK button is hit a warning is given indicating that "This operation will change node locations within tolerance". This warning is

just given to make sure that the correct tolerance value is given. Select the Yes button. Green circles are drawn around nodes where more than one node is found at the same location within the tolerance. Another warning is given. If the green circles look as though they are at appropriate locations, hit the Yes button. All the elements of the model are now thermally attached because they share nodes. If for some reason green circles appear at nodes that should not be combined with others, then select the No button and the equivalence will be aborted. Now lets check to see if the model segments are attached. Select Display>Outline>Entire Model. A single large rectangle will now be drawn showing the borders of the model.

The model to this point is called Step 6.mod found in the Tutorial directory.
1.7 Adding Heat Loads

Now that we have our geometry defined for our heat sink, we have convection off it to the air and we have modeled the air as it passes over the heat sink, lets apply some heat to the heat sink. We'll add some surface heat loads to the heat sink. Select the Add>Heat Load>Surface or select toolbar. We'll arbitrarily add heat loads to the Plate elements. Enter a value in the Heat the Load edit box, say 1.2. Since our linear dimensions are in inches, and thermal conductivity is in Watts/(sqin-C), the units for surface heat load are Watts/sqin. Select the Window Select checkbox and box in a few areas of Plate elements. If you would like to easily change the heat loads later, select the Add Property button. Enter a value in the Surface Heat edit box and select OK. A value of 1.0 is automatically entered in the Factor edit box back in the Add Surface Heat dialog box. When referencing the property table, the heat load applied is the product of the Factor in the Add Surface Heat dialog and the value in the referenced property table. Select the OK button to accept all heat loads generated. The model to this point is called Step 7.mod found in the Tutorial directory.
1.8 Solve The Model

The model is now complete. We have heat sources, heat sinks (the flow path) and a heat transfer path between them.

Check out the model with a few hand calculations

Its always good to first do a few hand calculations to make sure our model makes sense. First we'll calculate the bulk air temperature rise. To find out how much heat is in the model select Information>Model>Entire. At the bottom of the Model Information dialog box the total heat load to the model is given. In my case it is 18.6 watts. The flow parameter for the three flow paths is 28.5 Watts/C (9.5*3). To get the bulk air temperature rise, divide the 18.6 watts by the 28.5 Watts/C. This gives 0.65C. Here we want to make sure that the number calculated is not unreasonable, say 20,000C. This can happen if units are incorrect. We can also do a calculation to determine the average temperature rise between the heat sink and the air. The total surface area is 72 square inches (12*6). The total surface area for those using the demonstration version of TAS is 24 square inches. The heat transfer coefficient defined was 0.092 Watts/(sqin-C). Therefore the temperature rise between the air and the heat sink will be 2.8C found as follows: Temperature rise = Q/(h*area) = 18.6/(0.092*72) = 2.8C Lets solve the model by selecting the Solve>Steady State menu or the toolbar. The default values for Maximum Number of Iterations, Convergence and Heat Balance in Percent can be used. When a model has fluid elements in it then it is a good idea to start the solution at the inlet temperature. Uncheck the Use Current Temperatures checkbox and enter 25.0 in the Final Temperature edit box. If we were rerunning the model after making a few minor changes we would leave the Use Current Temperatures checkbox checked and use the temperatures that exist in the model, the ones from the last solution, to start this solution. Since the temperatures would be close to the new solution, the model would solve very quickly. Either way, the solution will be the same, just the time to solve will vary. TAS models can be run in the background. What this means is that you can be working on another model or another application while the model is running. As the model is solving, the iteration, convergence, heat balance and total heat load applied to the model is given. The value in the Max Var Res Iter defines how often temperature dependent properties are updated during the solution. Since we do not have temperature properties we can leave the default value. The initial value for damping can be selected can be selected from the drop down list. A damping value can be interactively changed during the solution. The value can be increased by 0.1 by hitting the up arrow. The value can be decreased by 0.1 by hitting the down arrow. Increasing the value will speed up the solution. There may be some models that are dominated by radiation or changing properties that will become unstable when the value is increased too high. When the convergence value oscillates or starts increasing, reduce the value. TAS will automatically detect instability and may automatically reduce the damping value. The maximum value is 1.95. When the solution is complete, information at the end of the run is given. Select the OK button on this dialog box and Cancel on the next. The model to this point is called Step 8.mod found in the Tutorial directory.
1.9 View The Results

When a model is solved for a steady state solution, temperatures are automatically assigned to the nodes of the model. For transient solutions, the node temperatures at each printed time step are written to disk. To create a color temperature plot of the model select the Post>Temperature Contour>Fine or the toolbar. This will create a temperature contour on the geometric elements that are visible. To get the temperature of an individual node, select the Information>Element menu or the toolbar. Next select the node from the screen.
1.10 Generate The Interface Elements

Now we'll generate the 'L' shaped brackets on which the electronic components are mounted. The bracket will be represented with Plate elements and the thermal contact between the bracket and the heat sink will be represented with an Interface element. The 'L' brackets are made of bent aluminum sheet material 0.1 inch thick. The brackets are screwed to the aluminum heat sink. Using data for contact resistance versus contact pressure and finish, it was determined that the contact coefficient between the brackets and heat sink is 1.83 Watts/(in2C). To represent this, an Interface element is used. Interface elements will be generated between the heat sink and the 'L' bracket. An interface element conducts heat in one direction, the Z direction. It references the property table where the heat transfer coefficient is defined. The thickness of an interface element has no bearing on the solution. It should be made large enough to visibly see in the model but should not have a zero thickness. We will make the Interface elements 0.1 inch thick. To do so we will extrude the heat sink plate elements at the location of the bracket into interface elements.
Put the heat sink elements into a group

To make selecting the elements to be extruded easier, we will put just those elements into a group. First view the model from the top view by selecting the toolbar. To define a group, select the
Group>Edit menu or the toolbar. Select and highlight group number 2 and hit the OK button or double click on group number 2. Select the Window Select checkbox. Window the elements in the area of the bracket. For this tutorial, the actual elements selected are not important. Select the Plate elements similar to the highlighted area in the figure below. Notice at the lower left corner of the window, the X and Y location in model units are given to help you select the elements. When in any of the three predefined planes the mouse location is given.

In the Group Name edit box, enter a name for the group. Next check the Echo/Select checkbox. When the OK button is selected, the group just defined will be viewed or echoed to the screen. Select the OK button.
Extrude the plate elements to create interface elements

To extrude the plates into interface elements, select Add>Interface>Extrude Plate. In the Thickness edit box enter 0.1. In the Interface Type area, make sure that HT Coefficient is selected. Interface elements can also transfer heat by radiation. Next, select the Add Property button. In the HT Coeff cell, enter 1.83, the value we derived from a textbook. Enter the title "Contact" in the Property Name edit box. Select the OK button when complete. Back in the Add Interface Extrude Plate dialog, re-select Contact for the Interface Property. Often times when generating Interface elements, Plate elements are needed on the other side of the element. This is why the option is given to add these Plates at the same time the Interface elements are added. Check the Add Plate checkbox. Lets make a new property for the bracket so select Add Property. The bracket is the same material as the heat sink so select Al Alloy 6061-T6 from the Material drop down list. Enter a Thickness of 0.1 inches and enter Bracket for the Property
Name. Select the toolbar to view the plates at a perspective. This way when the interface elements are extruded we can ensure that they extrude the correct direction. Now select the Window Select checkbox and window in the plates on the screen. If the interface elements extrude below the plates, select the Undo button, change the Thickness to -0.1 and re-select the plate elements. Hit the OK button.

The model to this point is called Step 9.mod found in the Tutorial directory.

1.11 Generate The Bracket

To generate the upright portion of the "L" bracket, the two end nodes on the right side of the base of the bracket will be copied in the positive Z direction 2.0 inches. Select Edit>Copy or the toolbar. Enter a value of 2.0 in the dZ edit box. With the mouse, select the two end nodes on the

bracket base. When each node is selected, new nodes are generated 2.0 inches from the one selected in the Z direction. If there is an error made, hit the Undo button and try again. Select

New nodes

Using the two nodes just copied and the two nodes selected to copy, Plate elements will be generated to represent the back of the bracket. Select Add>Plate>Select Nodes or the toolbar. Select the four nodes in a rotation. Because the properties of the bracket are isotropic, the same in all directions, which node is selected first, and the direction of the rotation is not important. The value in the X Increment edit box defines the number of elements which will be generated in the X direction. The X direction is defined as the direction from Node 1 to Node 2. Similarly, the Y direction is defined as the direction from Node 1 to Node 4. When defining the number of elements along the edge at the bracket base, it is important to have the same number of elements generated as is in the bracket base. Heat is transferred between elements through common nodes. If a different number of elements are generated along this edge, the nodes generated will not align with those on the bracket base. Therefore, there will only be heat transfer from the bracket to its base via the two edge nodes. See Section 6.2 of the TAS manual for more information. Generate five plates along the bracket normal to the heat sink and 10 along the bracket base. Select the Bracket property from the drop down list then select the Add button. The model to this point is called Step 10.mod found in the Tutorial directory.
1.12 Generating The Second Bracket

Instead of repeating the operations in the previous sections of the tutorial to generate the second bracket, the first bracket will be mirrored. Since the base of the 'L' brackets face in opposite directions, the bracket must be mirrored rather than copied. Since the interface elements and the bracket plate elements are to be mirrored, they must all be visible. Select Group>Echo All. Select

Display>Fit To Screen or the

toolbar. The view of the model should be the XZ plane. If not, toolbar.

select View>Restore View>XZ or the

Mirror first 'L' bracket to generate the second

Select the Edit>Mirror or the toolbar. The first step is to define two points which defines a line. In the view below, the two nodes can be selected at the location shown by selecting the point twice. The node numbers found will be entered in the Node 1 and Node 2 edit boxes. A third point should be selected on the plane of the heat sink. See Section 3.9.3 of the TAS manual for a full explanation. This will enter a node number in the Plane Node edit box. You may have noticed that the three points selected do not define a mirror plane, they actually define a plane normal to the actual mirror plane. In this case, uncheck the Define Normal checkbox.

Select two nodes Select any node on h the heat sink plane (Plane Next select the elements to mirror. Select the Window Select checkbox and box in the bracket plate elements as well as the interface elements. Window in on this area to make selection easier. Fit the model to the screen to view the entire model. The model should appear as above. If a mistake was made, select the Undo button and try again. The model to this point is called Step 11.mod found in the Tutorial directory.
1.13 Thermally Connect The Model

Again, because new elements were added to the model, the model must be equivalenced. Select the
Solve>Compact Equiv. menu or the toolbar. This will combine nodes at the same locations in the model and delete any nodes not connected to elements.

We can add heat loads to the brackets and run the model to get updated temperatures. When complete, to create a color temperature plot of the model select the Post>Temperature
Contour>Fine or the toolbar. This will create a temperature contour on the geometric elements that are visible. To get the temperature of an individual node, select the Information>Element menu or the

toolbar. Next select the node from the screen.