A heat sink is used to limit the operating temperature of a CPU to avoid overheating and system failure. The heat generated by the CPUs gets transferred to the heat sink through conduction and then released into the air via convection through the surface of the heat sink. Highly conductive materials, such as copper and aluminum, transfer heat away from the CPU. The fins of the heat sink increase the total surface area and improve its performance when cooling the CPUs.
In this lesson we will explore how to perform a thermal analysis for the heat sink and the CPUs using Ansys Discovery. We will start by preparing the geometry and setting the model up for an initial look at the temperatures of the CPUs and heat sink. Then, we will analyze and compare different designs. Lastly, we will prepare and perform a high-fidelity simulation and compare the results with the first exploratory test.
Download the files we will use in this lesson here. For this example, you can use the heat sink geometry you created in the previous lesson. Our free Ansys Discovery Student product can be downloaded here.