Forced convection capability for coupled fluid/solid heat transfer

Citation

(2002), "Forced convection capability for coupled fluid/solid heat transfer", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 74 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2002.12774cab.013

Forced convection capability for coupled fluid/solid heat transfer

Keywords: Engineering, Head transfer, Software

ALGOR, Inc., maker of software for mechanical engineers, recently announced the addition of a forced convection heat transfer capability to its steady-state heat transfer analysis products. This capability is said to enable engineers to consider the effects of fluid flow when solving for temperature distribution by performing a fluid flow analysis and then considering the velocity results as part of a direct convection load in a heat transfer analysis. The heat transfer results specify temperature distribution for both the fluid and solid components in systems such as fan- or water- cooled CPUs and heat exchangers.

"Engineers performing steady-state heat transfer analysis in ALGOR can now simply click on a dialogue box to include fluid convection effects and provide the location of fluid velocity results during set-up to yield forced convection heat transfer results," said Michael L. Bussler, president of Pittsburgh- based ALGOR, Inc. "This easy method of predicting how flow will affect temperature distribution in both fluid and solid components is especially useful to engineers analysing systems that require fans or water for cooling and those that transport molten metal or liquefied plastic or rubber, all of which operate at extremely high temperatures."

"As an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of wireless communications equipment, we need to know what fluid flow velocity is necessary within enclosures to cool the electronics," said Grant South, mechanical engineering manager for Wytee in Santa Clara, California. "We can use ALGOR's forced convection heat transfer to determine what level of fluid flow – like the fan-forced airflow that cools a computer – will produce the desired internal temperature distribution and prevent electronic components from overheating and failing."

ALGOR customers with current software upgrade subscriptions for its thermal FEA products can receive the new forced convection heat transfer capability at no charge by requesting this latest release. ALGOR software is available for PC workstations running Windows NT, Me, 95, 98, 2000 or XP.

Details available from: ALGOR, Inc. Tel: +1.412.967.2700; Fax: +1 412 967 2781; E-mail: info@algor.com ; Website: http://www.ALGOR.com