Forced air cooling is to enhance the air movement so as to realize the cooling approach that is required by the heat sources. There are two approaches to quickly realize better cooling performance and these include increasing the cooling surface area of the heat sources and increasing the air velocity when it flows through an object. The first approach of increasing the cooling surface area can be realized by installing heat sinks on the surface of the heat sources. Typically, a heat sink is firmly fixed on the heat source so as to obtain better cooling performance. The second approach of enhancing airflow can be realized by installing fans (wind turbines) to enhance ventilation and strengthen the cooling effect. Under most scenarios, adding a fan onto a heat sink can greatly enhance the cooling efficiency.
Forced air cooling is often used for the cooling of internal combustion engines. As we can see from the exterior of an internal combustion engine on a vehicle or motorcycle, there are fins and an exhaust guard for forced air cooling. The reason for the exterior fins is to increase the cooling area and the fan inside the exhaust guard is to enhance the airflow through the surface of the internal combustion engine so that the temperature of the engine can be reduced quickly to ensure normal operation.
In recent years, Winshare Thermal has been strengthening our research and development on the applications of forced air cooling techniques. We have realized our forced air cooling on wind power converters, PV inverters, and SVG high power machines. The cooling combination of high power skived fin heat sink + fans or high power skived fin heat sink + heat pipe can greatly enhanced the cooling performance.