Internal variation temperature analysis and thermal mapping of a central processing unit (CPU)

This work aims to analyze the internal temperature variation of the central processing unit (CPU) of a personal computer, through the development of three distinct scenarios: one for reference and two aiming at its performance improvement. The finite volume method (FVM) was applied. Thus, Hypermesh 13.0 software was used for geometric model development and for surface mesh generation. For model contour conditions configuration, virtual simulation and post-processing, Starccm+ software was used. The results of this work indicated hot spots due to the heat dissipated during the operation of the CPU components. As expected, the processor region presented the highest temperatures in all proposed scenarios. The opening on the side of the cabinet, proposed in scenario 2, allowed a temperature reduction of about 18 °C in the processor region. In turn, scenario 3, in which heat exchangers were used in order to minimize the temperature of the hot air from the recirculation in the processor region, showed a minimum temperature reduction (about 3 °C) when compared to scenario 1.