Backes, Grant Sawyer2014-04-242014-04-242014-03https://hdl.handle.net/11299/163051University of Minnesota M.S. thesis. March 2014. Major: Mechanical engineering. Advisor: Ephraim M. Sparrow. 1 computer file (PDF); vi, 54 pages.The proper functioning of electronic equipment requires that temperatures not exceed specified upper bounds. To fulfill this limitation, small axial fans (called muffin fans) are commonly used. The fans move air by their curved rotating blades. The rotation of the blades imparts swirl to the air.In the published literature, the coolant airflow entering the electronic-equipment housing is assumed arbitrarily prescribable. The present investigation is based on a realistic model both of the rotating nature of the airflow and of the geometry of the thermal management system. The thermal management system consists of an extensive array of pin fins which receive heat from the electronic equipment. The research was implemented by means of numerical simulation. The results encompass heat transfer rates and patterns of fluid flow. Of interest is the degree of non-uniformity of the heat transferred by individual fins as a function of their location in the array.en-USThesis or Dissertation