Numerical analysis of thermal performance in semi-enclosed electronics: investigating active and passive cooling techniques for SSD-driven single-board devices
Effective thermal management is critical for the stable operation of high-power single-board computers (SBCs), particularly in semi-enclosed environments with limited airflow. This study investigates and compares two Solid-State Drive (SSD) cooling strategies: conduction combined with natural convec...
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2025-09-01
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| Series: | Results in Engineering |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590123025027367 |
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| Summary: | Effective thermal management is critical for the stable operation of high-power single-board computers (SBCs), particularly in semi-enclosed environments with limited airflow. This study investigates and compares two Solid-State Drive (SSD) cooling strategies: conduction combined with natural convection, and forced convection using a heat sink. Results demonstrate that the conduction-based method reduces chip junction and package temperatures by approximately 4 °C compared to the forced convection setup, while the chassis shell temperature experiences only a marginal increase (∼0.2 °C), indicating efficient localized heat transfer. Airflow analysis reveals that forced convection achieves higher maximum velocity (0.55 m/s), but the flow is concentrated near the fan outlet, reducing its overall effectiveness. In contrast, the conduction model sustains a more stable pressure distribution, with a significantly higher average internal air pressure (8.73 Pa vs. 0.018 Pa), enhancing heat dissipation. Although the 7-fin heat sink design achieves a high fin efficiency of 0.9825, it is less effective overall due to limited airflow distribution. The conduction model also exhibits a substantially higher heat transfer coefficient, reinforcing its thermal superiority. These findings highlight the limitations of forced convection in constrained environments and demonstrate the effectiveness of conduction-driven cooling for SSDs in compact, low-airflow systems, offering valuable insights for future thermal design strategies in embedded computing applications. |
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| ISSN: | 2590-1230 |