Thermal enhancement of desk top computer by chassis design optimization

The increased functionality of desktop computers has resulted in higher pow er dissipation of processor & other associated electronics and forced the t hermal designer to look for better thermal solution at the system level. Th e simpler approach is to go for a higher flow rate fan or an active heat si nk for the processor. But the additional cost and increase in overall syste m noise level is an undesirable part of the exercise. Hence any simple modi fication of the existing chassis to optimize the air flow path inside the c omputer is a better option. The main focus of this paper is to study the airflow pattern, velocity arou nd critical components in the existing design and the improvement by having additional baffles in the system using numerical techniques. The study dem onstrates that additional baffles in the existing chassis has significant i mpact on system airflow pattern, and air velocity around the critical compo nents. This results in lowering the junction temperature of the processor f or the same power level and the overall air temperature inside the system. The increased thermal margin of the system helps the end user to upgrade ha rdware with high power dissipation at the later stage.