Numerical simulation of natural convection cooled electronic enclosures

Natural convection in electronic enclosures is studied by performing three-dimensional numerical simulations. The effect of heat dissipation rate in the enclosure, material properties of enclosure walls and interboard spacing on heat transfer and flow field in the enclosure is illustrated by temperature contours, velocity contour and vector diagrams. Heat dissipation rate has strong impact on heat transfer and flow field in the enclosure. Nusselt numbers are computed that can be used in simple conduction type analysis of boards for such systems.