Mixed convection air cooling of electronic components mounted in a horizontal channel

This paper presents a numerical simulation of a two-dimensional laminar mixed-convection heat transfer to air from multiple identical protruding heat sources, which simulate electronic components, located in a horizontal channel which is open on both sides. The finite volume method and the SIMPLER algorithm were used to solve the laminar flow equations in mixed convection. Results show that for Pr=0.71, 0≤ Ri ≤5 and 5≤ Re ≤30, the heat transfer increases remarkably, where Ri and Re are the Richardson and Reynolds numbers, respectively. It was seen also that the installation of a rectangular plate above the components for the internal flow modification has a considerable enhancement of the heat removal rate from the components, and therefore on the improvement of the heat transfer inside the channel.