FE Thermal analysis

[John B Engel]

Can anyone help me define a film coefficient for an aluminum heatsink? Where can I find this information?

[waynef]

Another term for the film coefficient is the "convective heat transfer coefficient." More background info can be found on wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_transfer_coefficient) about this value. In the past, I have used a text book correlation coefficients for the situation at hand, for example, by Incropera, DeWitt called "Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer". It depends on whether it is natural (free) convection or forced convection and the properties of the moving fluid. Most of these correlations are done with fairly simple geometries, so it may be difficult to find what you need. It may be necessary to contact the manufacturer of the heat sink for this data or characterize the heat sink experimentally.