The Role of Anodization in Naturally Cooled Heat Sinks for Power Electronic Devices

Effect of anodization on the thermal performance of naturally cooled heat sinks in power electronic devices made of die-cast aluminum alloy A380 and machined aluminum alloy 6061 was investigated experimentally and numerically. Various types of anodization were examined with different thickness of anodic aluminum oxide layer (AAO), pore size distributions, and surface coloring conditions. A customized natural convection and thermal radiation experimental chamber was built to measure the cooling capacity and heat sink temperatures. A 3D numerical model was also developed and validated against the collected data to provide more details into the contribution of the radiation heat transfer. The total emittance of the anodized samples was determined by a Fourier transform infrared reflectometer (FTIR) spectroscopy method. The results show a significant improvement in total hemispherical emissivity from 0.14 to 0.92 in anodized die-cast aluminum samples. This increase resulted in a considerable reduction in overall thermal resistance, up to 15%; where up to 41% of the total heat dissipation was contributed by thermal radiation. In spite of the rather distinguishable surface morphologies, the measurements suggested that thermal emissivity of the anodized die-cast Al A380 and Al alloy 6061 samples were in the same range.