Tutorial: Internal Natural Convection in a Telecommunications Module

In this tutorial, we analyze the air flow and temperature distribution in a sealed telecommunications module that is cooled only by natural convection.

The aluminum enclosure contains several heat-generating components. No fans or other active devices are used to provide component cooling. All heat transfer is caused by buoyancy-driven flow within the enclosure and by conduction to the outer casing.

We simulate the module in a still-air environment. This means that natural convection of the surrounding air is the primary mechanism for removing heat dissipated by the components. Because we are not simulating the external air, we simulate this with a film coefficient (convection) boundary condition applied to the external surfaces of the enclosure.

Key Topics

• Internal natural convection
• Total heat generation boundary condition
• Perspective View
• "Rubber-band" selection of entities

Goals

• Understand the flow and temperature profiles in the module.
• Determine the temperature on critical components using Results parts

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