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Wind Tunnel

Enertron's thermal lab includes a state of the art, custom designed wind tunnel used for testing and performance evaluation of thermal solutions. The wind tunnel measures over 20 feet in length, and has several prominent features making it ideal for heat sink characterization.

The wind tunnel is highly adaptable, and features four interchangeable duct sizes, ranging from 15x15cm to 30x30cm. Furthermore, each duct size is built with the ability to be further reduced, allowing each test section to conform to the size of most heat sinks.

The airflow is adjustable ranging from 50 LFM to over 1600 LFM, depending upon the cross sectional area of the test section. The settling chamber is comprised of a honeycomb-screen construction, followed by a contraction chamber, to even the airflow.

A heating chamber is utilized when the airflow temperature must be higher than the traditional ambient range. The air can be heated as high as 80C, depending on the velocity of the air. This feature is particularly useful in testing for telecom applications, which often have forced system air that is already pre-heated, and for heat pipe applications, where the performance of heat pipes increases with their temperature. A pressure transducer, with measurement points located throughout the test sections, measures the airflow and pressure.

A spring-loaded mechanical press is used to add the appropriate mounting pressure to the heat sink. Variable pressure can be applied to the thermal solutions tested to simulate the physical attachment to the heat source. The wind tunnel uses a smoke generator and laser sighting for flow visualization over the heat sink.

The flexibility of the wind tunnel allows Enertron to test most heat sink configurations, under a full range of airflow velocities and temperatures, as well as in ducted and non-ducted conditions.