Thermal performance of a pin-fin assembly

The steady-state forced -convective cooling of a horizontally based pin-fin assembly has been investigated experimentally. The circular pin-fins protruded vertically upward from a horizontal base plate. For each in-line or staggered combination of specified pin-fins and air-flow rate, the optimal spacing-to-diameter ratios corresponding to the maximum rate of heat dissipation from the array have been deduced. The effect of changing the thermal conductivity of the pin-fin material has been studied. Designers should aim to have a spacing-to-diameter ratio of 1.04, in the span-wise direction, for all pin-fin systems; whereas, the ratio for the pin-fins in the stream-wise direction will depend upon what fin material is used and whether or not the pin-fins are staggered or aligned.