Metal Foam and Finned Metal Foam Heat Sinks for Electronics Cooling in Buoyancy-Induced Convection

2005 ◽  
Vol 128 (3) ◽  
pp. 259-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Bhattacharya ◽  
R. L. Mahajan

In this paper, we present our recent experimental results on buoyancy-induced convection in aluminum metal foams of different pore densities [corresponding to 5, 10, 20, and 40 pores per in. (PPI)] and porosities (0.89–0.96). The results show that compared to a heated surface, the heat transfer coefficients in these heat sinks are five to six times higher. However, when compared to commercially available heat sinks of similar dimensions, the enhancement is found to be marginal. The experimental results also show that for a given pore size, the heat transfer rate increases with porosity, suggesting the dominant role played by conduction in enhancing heat transfer. On the other hand, if the porosity is held constant, the heat transfer rate is found to be lower at higher pore densities. This can be attributed to the higher permeability with the larger pores, which allows higher entrainment of air through the porous medium. New empirical correlations are proposed for the estimation of Nusselt number in terms of Rayleigh and Darcy numbers. We also report our results on novel finned metal foam heat sinks in natural convection. Experiments were conducted on aluminum foams of 90% porosity with 5 and 20 PPI with one, two, and four aluminum fins inserted in the foam. All of these heat sinks were fabricated in-house. The results show that the finned metal foam heat sinks are superior in thermal performance compared to the normal metal foam and conventional finned heat sinks. The heat transfer increases with an increase in the number of fins. However, the relative enhancement is found to decrease with each additional fin. The indication is that there exists an optimum number of fins beyond which the enhancement in heat transfer, due to increased surface area, is offset by the retarding effect of overlapping thermal boundary layers. Similar to normal metal foams, the 5 PPI samples are found to give higher values of h compared to the 20 PPI samples due to higher permeability of the porous medium. Future work is planned to arrive at the optimal heat sink configuration for even larger enhancement in heat transfer.

2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Bhattacharya ◽  
Roop L. Mahajan

Abstract In this paper, we present our recent experimental results on buoyancy induced convection in metal foams of different pore densities (corresponding to 5, 10, 20 and 40 pores per inch) and porosities (0.89–0.96). The results show that compared to a hot surface facing up, the heat transfer coefficients in these heat sinks are 5 to 6 times higher. However, when compared to commercially available heat sinks of similar dimensions, the enhancement is found to be marginal. The experimental results also show that for a given pore size, the heat transfer rate increases with porosity suggesting the dominant role played by conduction in enhancing heat transfer. On the other hand, if the porosity is held constant, the heat transfer rate is found to be lower at higher pore densities. This can be attributed to the higher permeability with the larger pores, which allows higher entrainment of air through the porous medium. An empirical correlation, developed for the estimation of Nusselt number in terms of Rayleigh and Darcy numbers, is found to be in good agreement with the experimental data with a maximum error of 10%. We also report our results on novel finned metal foam heat sinks© in natural convection. Experiments were conducted on aluminum foams of 90% porosity with 5 and 20 PPI (pores per inch) with one, two, and four aluminum fins inserted in the foam. All these heat sinks were fabricated in-house. The results show that the finned metal foam heat sinks© are superior in thermal performance compared to the normal metal foam and conventional finned heat sinks. The heat transfer increases with increase in the number of fins. However, the relative enhancement is found to decrease with each additional fin. The indication is that there exists an optimum number of fins beyond which the enhancement in heat transfer due to increased surface area is offset by the retarding effect of overlapping thermal boundary layers. Similar to normal metal foams, the 5 PPI samples are found to give higher values of the heat transfer coefficient compared to the 20 PPI samples due to higher permeability of the porous medium. Future work is planned to arrive at the optimal heat sink configuration for even larger enhancement in heat transfer.


2002 ◽  
Vol 124 (3) ◽  
pp. 155-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Bhattacharya ◽  
R. L. Mahajan

In this paper, we present recent experimental results on forced convective heat transfer in novel finned metal foam heat sinks. Experiments were conducted on aluminum foams of 90 percent porosity and pore size corresponding to 5 PPI (200 PPM) and 20 PPI (800 PPM) with one, two, four and six fins, where PPI (PPM) stands for pores per inch (pores per meter) and is a measure of the pore density of the porous medium. All of these heat sinks were fabricated in-house. The forced convection results show that heat transfer is significantly enhanced when fins are incorporated in metal foam. The heat transfer coefficient increases with increase in the number of fins until adding more fins retards heat transfer due to interference of thermal boundary layers. For the 20 PPI samples, this maximum was reached for four fins. For the 5 PPI heat sinks, the trends were found to be similar to those for the 20 PPI heat sinks. However, due to larger pore sizes, the pressure drop encountered is much lower at a particular air velocity. As a result, for a given pressure drop, the heat transfer coefficient is higher compared to the 20 PPI heat sink. For example, at a Δp of 105 Pa, the heat transfer coefficients were found to be 1169W/m2-K and 995W/m2-K for the 5 PPI and 20 PPI 4-finned heat sinks, respectively. The finned metal foam heat sinks outperform the longitudinal finned and normal metal foam heat sinks by a factor between 1.5 and 2, respectively. Finally, an analytical expression is formulated based on flow through an open channel and incorporating the effects of thermal dispersion and interfacial heat transfer between the solid and fluid phases of the porous medium. The agreement of the proposed relation with the experimental results is promising.


2016 ◽  
Vol 139 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Navid O. Ghaziani ◽  
Fatemeh Hassanipour

In this study, the performance of a heat sink embedded with a porous medium and nanofluids as coolants is analyzed experimentally. The nanofluid is a mixture of de-ionized water and nanoscale Al2O3 particles with three different volumetric concentrations: ζ = 0.41%, 0.58%, and 0.83%. The experimental test section is a rectangular minichannel filled with metal foam, which is electrically heated to provide a constant heat flux. The porous medium is assumed to be homogeneous and the flow regime is laminar. The result of heat transfer enhancement by slurry of Al2O3 nanofluid in porous media is studied under various flow velocities, heat flux, porous media structure, and particle concentration of nanofluid. The effect of particles volume fraction on heat transfer coefficient is also studied. This experimental study discovers and/or confirms the following hypotheses: (1) nanoparticle slurry in conjunction with metal foam has a significant effect on heat transfer rate; (2) there is an optimum permeability for the foam resulting in maximal heat transfer rate; (3) for a fixed particle concentration, smaller particles are more effective in enhancing heat transfer; and (4) increasing particle concentration results in some gains, but this trend weakens after a threshold.


Author(s):  
Ninad Trifale ◽  
Eric Nauman ◽  
Kazuaki Yazawa

Use of microchannel heat sinks for high heat flux applications is substantial for thermal management and it is also critical for scalable power generation. For both applications, the energy efficiency consideration of the pump power is crucial. A number of models have been created that predict the performance as a function of the geometrical parameters, taking into account, the pressure loss over the length and volume constraints. Most of the approaches either involve sophisticated calculations incorporating fluid dynamics in channels, or have an analogy with the pin-fin model, which gives simpler calculations but considers only a single laminar flow regime for optimization. Even with the simplified models available, the geometrical impact on mass and pumping power is nonlinear and not apparent for optimization. We propose an optimization of porous medium heat sinks with respect to the heat transfer rate, mass, and pumping power. These are functions of the simplest geometric parameters, i.e. porosity, pore density, and length of the porous medium. Considering large production, mass (cost of raw material) is nearly proportional to the cost of the heat sink, we consider minimizing the mass for indirectly minimizing the overall cost. The other factor for saving energy considered here is the pumping power. This connects to both the heat transfer rate and the power consumption to drive the fluid through the porous medium. The optimization is performed for a specific value of porosity and length of the heat sink. The model considers the effect of flow through the porous medium and the effective thermal conduction as a function of combined conductivity of the solid ligaments and the fluid in pores. An optimum coefficient of performance (COP) is found at over 90% of porosity for minimum mass, pumping work and maximum heat transfer. This mathematical expression of the model will give a quantifiable figure-of-merit to take into account the impact of the mass and the pumping power on the performance to cost ratio.


Author(s):  
Hossein Arasteh ◽  
Mohammad Reza Salimpour ◽  
Mohammad Reza Tavakoli

PurposeIn the present research, a numerical investigation is carried out to study the fluid flow and heat transfer in a double-pipe, counter-flow heat exchanger exploiting metal foam inserts partially in both pipes. The purpose of this study is to achieve the optimal distribution of a fixed volume of metal foam throughout the pipes which provides the maximum heat transfer rate with the minimum pressure drop increase.Design/methodology/approachThe governing equations are solved using the finite volume method. The metal foams are divided into different number of parts and positioned at different locations. The number of metal foam parts, their placements and their volume ratios in each pipe are sought to reach the optimal conditions. The four-piece metal foam with optimized placement and partitioning volume ratios is selected as the best layout. The effects of the permeability of metal foam on the Nusselt number, the performance evaluation criteria (PEC) and the overall heat transfer coefficient are investigated.FindingsIt was observed that the heat transfer rate, the overall heat transfer coefficient and the effectiveness of the heat exchanger can be improved as high as 69, 124 and 9 per cent, respectively, while the highest value of PEC is 1.36.Practical implicationsPorous materials are widely used in thermo-fluid systems such as regenerators, heat sinks, solar collectors and heat exchangers.Originality/valueHaving less pressure drop than fully filled heat exchangers, partially filled heat exchangers with partitioned metal foams distributed optimally enhance heat transfer rate more economically.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 595
Author(s):  
Mahir Faris Abdullah ◽  
Rozli Zulkifli ◽  
Hazim Moria ◽  
Asmaa Soheil Najm ◽  
Zambri Harun ◽  
...  

Impinging jets are considered to be a well-known technique that offers high local heat transfer rates. No correlation could be established in the literature between the significant parameters and the Nusselt number, and investigation of the interactions between the correlated factors has not been conducted before. An experimental analysis based on the twin impingement jet mechanism was achieved to study the heat transfer rate pertaining to the surface plate. In the current paper, four influential parameters were studied: the spacing between nozzles, velocity, concentration of Nano solution coating and nozzle-plate distance, which are considered to be effective parameters for the thermal conductivity and the heat transfer coefficient of TiO2 nanoparticle, an X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) analysis were done, which highlighted the structure and showed that the nanosolution coated the surface homogenously. Moreover, a comparison was done for the experimental results with that of the predicted responses generated by the Design Expert software, Version 7 User’s Guide, USA. A response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to improve a mathematical model by accounting for a D-optimal design. In addition, the analysis of variance (ANOVA) was employed for testing the significance of the models. The maximum Nu of 91.47, where H = S = 1 cm; Reynolds number of 17,000, and TiO2 nanoparticle concentration of 0.5% M. The highest improvement rate in Nusselt was about 26%, achieved with TiO2 Nanoparticle, when S = 3 cm, H = 6 cm and TiO2 nanoparticle = 0.5 M. Furthermore, based on the statistical analysis, the expected values were found to be in satisfactory agreement with that of the empirical data, which was conducted by accounting for the proposed models’ excellent predictability. Multivariate approaches are very useful for researchers, as well as for applications in industrial processes, as they lead to increased efficiency and reduced costs, so the presented results of this work could encourage the overall uses of multivariate methods in these fields. Hypotheses: A comparison was done for the predicted responses generated by the Design Expert software with the experimental results and then studied to verify the following hypotheses: ► Preparation of three concentrations of TiO2 nanosolution was done and studied. ► The heat transfer rate could be increased by surface coating with TiO2 nanoparticle. ► The heat transfer could be improved by the impingement jet technique with suitable adjustments.


2018 ◽  
Vol 141 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Mohammadpour-Ghadikolaie ◽  
M. Saffar-Avval ◽  
Z. Mansoori ◽  
N. Alvandifar ◽  
N. Rahmati

Laminar forced convection heat transfer from a constant temperature tube wrapped fully or partially by a metal porous layer and subjected to a uniform air cross-flow is studied numerically. The main aim of this study is to consider the thermal performance of some innovative arrangements in which only certain parts of the tube are covered by metal foam. The combination of Navier–Stokes and Darcy–Brinkman–Forchheimer equations is applied to evaluate the flow field. Governing equations are solved using the finite volume SIMPLEC algorithm and the effects of key parameters such as Reynolds number, metal foam thermophysical properties, and porous layer thickness on the Nusselt number are investigated. The results show that using a tube which is fully wrapped by an external porous layer with high thermal conductivity, high Darcy number, and low drag coefficient, can provide a high heat transfer rate in the high Reynolds number laminar flow, increasing the Nusselt number almost as high as 16 times compared to a bare tube. The most important result of thisstudy is that by using some novel arrangements in which the tube is partially covered by the foam layer, the heat transfer rate can be increased at least 20% in comparison to the fully wrapped tube, while the weight and material usage can be considerably reduced.


Nanomaterials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 1138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ammar I. Alsabery ◽  
Mohammad Ghalambaz ◽  
Taher Armaghani ◽  
Ali Chamkha ◽  
Ishak Hashim ◽  
...  

The mixed convection two-phase flow and heat transfer of nanofluids were addressed within a wavy wall enclosure containing a solid rotating cylinder. The annulus area between the cylinder and the enclosure was filled with water-alumina nanofluid. Buongiorno’s model was applied to assess the local distribution of nanoparticles in the host fluid. The governing equations for the mass conservation of nanofluid, nanoparticles, and energy conservation in the nanofluid and the rotating cylinder were carried out and converted to a non-dimensional pattern. The finite element technique was utilized for solving the equations numerically. The influence of the undulations, Richardson number, the volume fraction of nanoparticles, rotation direction, and the size of the rotating cylinder were examined on the streamlines, heat transfer rate, and the distribution of nanoparticles. The Brownian motion and thermophoresis forces induced a notable distribution of nanoparticles in the enclosure. The best heat transfer rate was observed for 3% volume fraction of alumina nanoparticles. The optimum number of undulations for the best heat transfer rate depends on the rotation direction of the cylinder. In the case of counterclockwise rotation of the cylinder, a single undulation leads to the best heat transfer rate for nanoparticles volume fraction about 3%. The increase of undulations number traps more nanoparticles near the wavy surface.


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