Design Considerations and Effect of Air Ducts on Flow Rate and Heat

Transfer from a Series of Heat Sinks for Solid State Transformer

Joseph J. Elliott, Dr. Richard Gould, and Dr. Subhashish Bhattacharya

Abstract - The Solid State Transformer (SST) In this orientation, the first heat sink is the coolest
contains high-temperature electronics, including (receiving ambient air), while the downstream heat
an IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) sinks are hotter, as the air flowing past the
module which produces a great deal of heat. Heat downstream heat sinks is warmed by the upstream
sinks bonded to the IGBT enable enhanced heat heat sink(s). Rende found that the gap spacing
transfer; however, forced convection is required between the heat sinks has a minimal effect on the
to maintain acceptable operational temperatures. device temperature when the air velocity is 3-5m/s.
A duct was proposed as a way to channel the These conclusions are important in the design of the
moving air. The dimensions of the duct that SST system and future experimentation.
produced necessary velocities for appropriate heat
transfer were obtained through experimentation. III. Objective
The objective of this study is to design a duct system
that will achieve 3-5m/s air speed past the heat sinks.
I. Introduction This will enable appropriate heat transfer and keep
As new sources of renewable energy become more the IGBT devices cool enough to operate reliably. A
prevalent, the electrical devices used to integrate common way to channel moving air is by using a
these sources to the power grid become more vital[1]. duct. A duct of an appropriate size will direct airflow
As these innovative electronics are pushed to their past the heat sinks to achieve the correct flow
limits, more creative methods are needed to reduce velocity.
the amount of heat produced by these devices and to
ensure that temperatures are below the operational
limits. Heat sinks are used in many common
electronics today, including desktop computers.
Many systems also utilize forced convection, or
airflow driven by fans, to more efficiently remove
heat. However, obtaining the optimum system
geometry for a forced convection situation is difficult
and requires experimentation or in-depth simulation. Heat
Heat Sink 3
Heat
Air Sink 2
II. Background Work Sink 1
Flow
The heat transfer from the IGBT module was
investigated by Rende[2]. In his experiment, Rende
varied the air speed across a Wakefield Series 392 Figure 1 – Heat Sink Train
heat sink with a power source of 150W attached to
simulate the IGBT module. Through
experimentation, it was found that the temperature of
the device decreased relatively rapidly as the air
velocity was increased to 3-5 m/s. At greater air
speeds, the temperature decreased at a slower rate.
The conclusion from this experimentation was that
the optimum air velocity across the heat sinks in the
SST should be between 3-5 m/s. In addition, Rende
investigated how the spacing between the heat sinks
affected heat transfer. The SST contains three heat
sink/IGBT packages in series or a “train” (see Fig. 1
& Fig. 2).
Figure 2 –Duct Showing Mid-Plane of Each Heat Sink

Joseph J. Elliott is an undergraduate student in Mechanical Engineering at NC State University. Professor Richard Gould
(phone: 919-515-2368 email: gould@eos.ncsu.edu) is his mentor in Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and
Dr. Subhashish Bhattcharya is his mentor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and the FREEDM Center at NC State.
This work was supported by the ERC Program of the National Science Foundation under Award Number EEC-08212121.
 IV. Procedure
Figure 3 shows the four duct dimensions and velocity
measurement locations. As shown below, spacers of Duct Dimension Test Cases (WxH):
foam board are added to a large steel duct to vary the 1. No Spacers (9”x7.5”)
duct flow area. The experimental procedure is as 2. One Spacer (7.875”X 6.9375”)
follows. 3. Two Spacers (6.625”x6.5”)
4. Three Spacers (5.625”x5.625”)
1. The heat sinks and fan are mounted in the duct
and sealed with silicone sealant. Subtracting the heat sink width (125mm) and height
2. The fan and end plate are mounted to the front of (135.8mm) gives the gap spacing between the duct
the duct and sealed. walls and the heat sink on the bottom and sides.
3. The fan (Delta AFB1224VHE at 24V) is turned The flow area is also important. By taking the duct
on. area (0.01214 m2) and subtracting the frontal area of
4. Velocity readings (Alnor Velometer AVM410) the heat sink the flow area is obtained. To eliminate
are taken. Three measurements are taken at the confusion, metric units are used from this point
midplane of each heat sink, for a total of 9 forward. The table below shows the gap spacings
velocity readings (See Figures 2 and 3). and the corresponding flow areas for the four cases
5. The static pressure is read from the manometer (in metric units).
(Meriam Instruments 40-AM10-E111).
6. The fan is turned off. Care is taken to ensure the
manometer is zeroed before each new reading. Table 1 – Spacing and Flow Area
The fan is turned on, and another set of velocity
and pressure readings are made (no change in Side Gap Bottom Flow Area
flow area). Spacers (m) Gap (m) (m2)
7. Steps 6-9 are repeated until a total of three 0 0.0518 0.0547 0.0314
readings are taken at each position for a
particular duct flow area. 1 0.0375 0.0404 0.0231
8. The fan is turned off, and foam spacers of 9/16” 2 0.0216 0.0293 0.0156
are added to the bottom and sides of the duct
walls, reducing the duct flow area. 3 0.0081 0.0071 0.0080
9. The procedure is repeated, adding spacers as
needed to fulfill all test cases.

Figure 3 – Front View of Measurement Locations

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 V. Results
Keeping in mind the objective of achieving 3-5 m/s
of air velocity past the heat sinks, plots were created
showing the change in velocity with respect to flow
area. Figures 4 - 6 show a linear trend of the
measured velocity for each position (left, middle and
right) based on three readings for each heat sink at
each flow area. These three figures show that
decreasing the flow area increases the velocity in the
ducts, as is expected.

Based on the gathered data, the smallest flow areas

will produce the highest velocities. The flow does
not get “blocked” sufficiently to reduce flow
velocity, even with very small gaps between the heat
sink and the walls. This shows that for this heat sink Figure 4 – Velocity vs. Area (Left Side)
and fan combination, using a square duct with the
duct side and bottom gaps approximately equal, the
smallest duct possible should be used to achieve the
highest flow velocities.

Note that the velocities adjacent to sides of the heat

sinks easily meet the 3-5 m/s velocity objective.
However, the flow passing through the middle
section of the heat sink does not achieve this velocity,
even at the smallest gap spacing. It appears that the
flow is segregating itself as it passes the heat sinks,
creating higher velocities at the sides and lower
velocities in the middle flow passage. This is to be
expected as the middle section has a large open area
that is not constricted by the duct walls, so the flow
passes much slower through this section (see Figure
3).
Figure 5 – Velocity vs. Area (Middle)
Without constructing a special duct configuration to
eliminate the extra space in the center of the heat
sink, the flow velocity in the middle section will
remain lower than at the sides of the duct. The effect
of this “dead space” on the heat transfer of the device
is unknown and will take more experimentation to
determine.

Figure 6 – Velocity vs. Area (Right Side)

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Complications in the velocity profile
The velocity profile at the exit of the fan was found
to be very non-uniform, which is not atypical. At the
same downstream distance from the fan exit plane,
different velocities were measured on the left, right,
and in the middle, sometimes differing drastically.
The flow past the first heat sink exhibited the most
difference in velocity, while the flow past the second
heat sink exhibited less difference, and the third heat
sink had even less, as shown in Figures 7-9.

This is most likely because as the flow traverses

down the duct, the velocity profile evens out and
becomes more uniform across the duct width. One
would expect with a longer duct, the velocity curves
for the different measurement points would not
change across the width of the duct. However, a
long duct is not practical for this application, where
space is at a premium. So the data must be
interpreted “as-is”. Figure 8 – Velocities Closer in Second Heat
Sink
Pressure
The static pressure inside the duct is also a concern.
Too much pressure drop in the duct will overpower
the fan and reduce the flow. Comparing the
pressures measured in the heat sink-duct system
(Figure 10) with the fan curve from the manufacturer
(Figure 11), the pressure in the duct even at the
minimum area tested is enough to provide more than
enough flow for this system.

Figure 9 – Velocities Nearly Uniform in Third Heat Sink

Figure 7 – Flow Divergent in First Heat Sink

Figure 10 – Pressure vs. Flow Area

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 The manometer was also subject to possible
inaccuracy due to:
Deposits on the inside of the manometer tube. A
build-up of filmy substance in the manometer
hindered flow of the water inside the tube. This
was viewed as minor.
Human error in the reading. The manometer was
graduated to marks of 0.01 inH2O, but between
marks the readings are subject to human error.

VI. Conclusions
This experiment indicates that to achieve the
maximum velocity for this system, the minimum duct
size must be utilized. This experiment also shows
that achieving a uniform velocity is very difficult
with the current fan and duct setup. However, the
velocities achieved for the minimum duct area test
case were in the range of acceptable values for good
heat transfer and the reliable operation of the
Figure 11 – Manufacturer’s Fan Curve (VH)[3] electronic device. Further experimentation will be
conducted to determine the actual heat transfer rates
from the devices under the smallest duct flow area
Error and Measurement Inaccuracy and conditions.
Imprecision
The velocity measurements are subject to a certain
VII. References
amount of imprecision due to several factors,
[1] Bhattacharya et.al. “Design and Development of
including:
Gen-1 Silicon Based Solid State Transformer.”
Human error with the velocity probe. The probe FREEDM Center. North Carolina State University.
is very sensitive to changes in both linear motion [2] Rende, Craig M. "Experimental Investigation on
and rotation. As the probe is inserted, the a 392 Series, High Performance Heat Sink." Thesis.
velocity reading may change up to +/-1 m/s North Carolina State University, 2009.
depending on how the probe is oriented. [3] Delta Electronics, Inc. AFB 120x120x38mm
Fan speed oscillation. The fan and power supply Series
are not perfect and so the fan speed could change
periodically which would affect the velocity.
This was viewed as minor.
Imperfect sealing. The silicone sealing on the
duct and also the duct tape used to close the
velocity probe holes when not in use could
possibly leak some airflow outside the duct. This
was viewed as minor.
Imperfections in the duct, mount, heat sinks, etc.
These minute dimensional differences could lead
to inaccurate velocity measurements by affecting
the flow pattern.

The standard deviation was calculated for the set of

three measurements at each position ranged from
0.01-0.41 m/s at each position. This gives a good
quantitative description of the imprecision involved
in the velocity measurements due to the factors
above.