2.672 experiment design : heat sink fin configurations

Abstract

2.672 is an undergraduate mechanical engineering laboratory course which requires students to solve real-world problems using both theoretical calculations and laboratory experiments. Many of the experiments currently in the laboratory have aged and their replacement presents an opportunity for the introduction of a new experiment. In this proposed experiment, students will optimize a heat sink for a certain type of rack-mount server. For a correct execution of the experiment, students will test the power dissipation of several different heat sinks against a model for how they should behave using principles of incompressible flow, extended surfaces and heat exchangers. An apparatus has been designed and constructed to simulate the air duct inside one possible server, and allow for measurements to be taken of power dissipation, temperature, and pressure in the duct. Seven different heat sink configurations were chosen to provide students with insight into how each parameter alters the effectiveness of the heat sink. Students are then asked to choose the parameters which give the optimal configuration.