Experimental study of the performance of cutting copper fiber oriented sintered heat sinks for the water cooling of LEDs

LED light sources have been gradually applied in plant factories, but the heat dissipation of LED leads to high energy consumption. Considering the water irrigation systems of plant factories, a cutting copper fiber oriented sintered heat sink (CCFOSHS) is proposed for water cooling of LEDs. The heat transfer and flow performances of CCFOSHS were investigated by experiments, and compared with cutting copper fiber random sintered heat sink (CCFRSHS) and traditional small channel heat sink. Influences of porosity and equivalent diameter of fibers on heat transfer and flow performances of CCFOSHS are analyzed. Results demonstrate that compared to CCFRSHS, heat transfer performances of CCFOSHS are slightly worse, but the direction of fiber causes a lower pressure drop and CCFOSHS has better comprehensive heat transfer performance. With the decrease of porosity, heat transfer performances of CCFOSHS are enhanced slightly, but pressure drops increase distinctly. Heat transfer performances of CCFOSHS are not sensitive to the equivalent diameter of fibers. The smaller equivalent diameter of the fibers leads to a higher pressure drop. Especially when the equivalent diameter of fibers is 195.12 μm, CCFOSHS with 80% porosity, has better temperature uniformity.