Natural Convective Characteristics of an Oblique Heat Source Module in the Closed and Ventilated Cabinets

A numerical analysis is performed to study the characteristics of heat transfer from a block heat source module at different angles in two-dimensional cabinets. Great efforts are carried out to conduct the effects of thermal interaction between the air steams inside and outside the cabinet on the conjugate conduction–natural convection phenomena. Moreover, the enhancement of cooling performance of the heat source module through the construction of air vents on cabinet wall is rigorously examined. The computation domain covers the cabinet and the surrounding area, and the temperature and velocity fields of the cabinet and surrounding area are solved simultaneously. Results show that the thermal interaction between the airs inside and outside the cabinet, the module angle and vent position can significantly affect the transfer characteristics. Comparing the results for cases with and without the consideration of thermal interaction between the air streams, the difference in hot spot temperature of module can be up to 26% for Pr = 0.7, K_bf = K_pf = K_wf = 100, 10⁵ ≦ Ra ≦ 10⁷ and φ = 0°, 90°, 270°. The maximum reduction in hot spot temperature is about 41% when two air vents are constructed on cabinet wall. The variation of module angle results in the maximum difference of the hot spot temperature is 15% for closed cabinet, and 10% for ventilated cabinet.