Analysis and optimization of the thermal performance of microchannel heat sinks

This work numerically studies the thermal and hydraulic performance of double-layered microchannel heat sinks (DL-MCHS) for their application in the cooling of high heat flux microelectronic devices. The superiority of double-layered microchannel heat sinks was assessed by a comparison with a single-layered microchannel heat sink (SL-MCHS) with the same triangular microchannels. Five DL-MCHSs with different cross-sectional shapes—triangular, rectangular, trapezoidal, circular and reentrant Ω-shaped—were explored and compared. The results showed that DL-MCHS decreased wall temperatures and thermal resistance considerably, induced much more uniform wall temperature distribution, and reduced the pressure drop and pumping power in comparison with SL-MCHS. The DL-MCHS with trapezoidal microchannels performed the worst with regard to thermal resistance, pressure drop, and pumping power. The DL-MCHS with rectangular microchannels produced the best overall thermal performance and seemed to be the optimum when thermal performance was the prime concern. Nevertheless, the DL-MCHS with reentrant Ω-shaped microchannels should be selected when pumping power consumption was the most important consideration.

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Enhanced Thermal Performance of Internal Y-Shaped Bifurcation Microchannel Heat Sinks With Metal Foams

Journal of Thermal Science and Engineering Applications ◽

10.1115/1.4036767 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Han Shen ◽

Xueting Liu ◽

Hongbin Yan ◽

Gongnan Xie ◽

Bengt Sunden

Keyword(s):

Thermal Management ◽

Thermal Performance ◽

Metal Foam ◽

Electronic Devices ◽

Metal Foams ◽

Heat Sinks ◽

High Power Density ◽

Pore Density ◽

Transfer Enhancement ◽

Microchannel Heat Sinks

Internal Y-shaped bifurcation has been proved to be an advantageous way on improving thermal performance of microchannel heat sinks according to the previous research. Metal foams are known due to their predominate performance such as low-density, large surface area, and high thermal conductivity. In this paper, different parameters of metal foams in Y-shaped bifurcation microchannel heat sinks are designed and investigated numerically. The effects of Reynolds number, porosity of metal foam, and the pore density (PPI) of the metal foam on the microchannel heat sinks are analyzed in detail. It is found that the internal Y-shaped bifurcation microchannel heat sinks with metal foam exhibit better heat transfer enhancement and overall thermal performance. This research provides broad application prospects for heat sinks with metal foam in the thermal management of high power density electronic devices.

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Analysis of Flow and Thermal Performance of a Water-Cooled Transversal Wavy Microchannel Heat Sink for Chip Cooling

Journal of Electronic Packaging ◽

10.1115/1.4023035 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 134 (4) ◽

Cited By ~ 33

Author(s):

Gongnan Xie ◽

Jian Liu ◽

Weihong Zhang ◽

Bengt Sunden

Keyword(s):

Pressure Drop ◽

Cross Section ◽

Thermal Performance ◽

Integrated Circuit ◽

Rectangular Cross Section ◽

Cooling Capacity ◽

Heat Sinks ◽

Liquid Cooling ◽

Rectangular Microchannel ◽

Microchannel Heat Sinks

With the increasing output power of the integrated circuit chips, the heat flux involved is being accordingly increased. In such situation, the air has almost reached its limit of cooling capacity, and thus the liquid cooling technology incorporating microchannel heat sinks is desired to cool the electronic chips in order to remove more heat loads. However, these microchannel heat sinks are often designed to be straight with rectangular cross section. In this study, on the basis of a straight microchannel having rectangular cross section, a kind of transversal wavy microchannel is designed and then the laminar flow and heat transfer are investigated numerically. It is shown that for removing the identical load, the transversal wavy microchannel has great potential to reduce pressure drop compared to the straight microchannel, especially for higher wave amplitude at the same Reynolds number, indicating the overall thermal performance of the transversal wavy microchannel is superior to the traditional straight rectangular microchannel. It is suggested such wavy microchannel can be used to cool chips effectively with much smaller pressure drop penalty.

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