I noticed flow simulation provided heat sink in the engineering database. I can see we can specify thermal resistance and pressure drop data in the heat sink component.
My question is how different are there between using the heat sink component in the engineering database and make a model a detail CAD of the real heat sink? For instance, how much computer time can I save with using the component in the database and how accurate it is comparing to a read CAD model?
Thanks and I hope I made myself clear.
Hi Derek, the first question I'd ask is does the heat sink you want to use fit the profile of the "smart part" in Flow SImulation. Many customers don't have heat sinks with fans on them which makes that functionality unavailable to them.
Then, do you have the data necessary for creating a heat sink in as a smart part. If not, you might be stuck creating it yourself.
Are there performance benefits? Definitely. You're talking about replacing a heatsink with fins and a rotating region with a block that behaves the same way. There will be a serious reduction in the number of cells and computation time. Are there specific benchmarks between them? not that i'm aware of but if you do that test, i'd really love that data point. But I would also say, the developers wouldn't add it if it didnt' save a lot of time.
Similarly regarding accuracy, remember the developers wouldn't add it if they didn't validate it. I would go over the documentation on it to make sure it matches your application and write down any assumptions that you think it makes and how they would affect your analysis. but in the long run, if you're concerned with accuracy, the only way to know is to test it for your application.