Free convection thermal interaction between 2D components mounted on a vertically oriented PCB

In this paper, measurements are presented of the temperature and velocity fields about two PCBs, with an array of five equally spaced two dimensional ribs The ribs are two dimensional approximations of the Super Ball Grid Array (SuperBGA) package from Amkor electronics. The temperature and Nusselt number distributions are measured using Digital Moiré Subtraction Interferometry and PIV is used to measure the velocity field. The effect of substrate conductivity is examined, and the level of thermal interaction is quantified. It is found that substrate conductivity significantly alters the induced boundary layer flow and also the recirculating vortex structure external to it. It is also found that there is a trade-off between a downstream component being heated by the thermal energy of the plume from a lower component, and cooled by the kinetic energy of that plume. The spacing to length ratio, above which the cooling effect is greater, is three for components mounted on a board with a high effective conductivity (15 W/m K). The ratio is greater than three for PCBs with lower effective conductivities. Previous work in the literature indicates a ratio greater than four for components mounted flush with an adiabatic substrate.