A New Integrated Approach for Modeling Green Passive Cooling Systems

A new one-dimensional thermal network modeling approach is proposed that can accurately predict transient/dynamic temperature distribution of passive cooling systems. The present model has applications in a variety of electronic and power electronic systems. The main components of any passive cooling solution are heat spreaders, heat pipes, and heat sinks as well as thermal boundary conditions such as natural convection and radiation heat transfer. In the present approach, all the above-mentioned components are analyzed, analytically modeled and presented in the form of resistance and capacitance (RC) network blocks. The proposed RC model is capable of predicting the transient/dynamic as well as steady state thermal behavior of the targeted passive cooling systems with significantly less cost of modeling compared to conventional numerical simulations. Furthermore, the present method takes into account thermal inertia of the system and is capable of capturing thermal lags in various system components under all applicable operating conditions. To validate the proposed model, a number of custom-designed test-beds are also built and a comprehensive experimental study is conducted.