scholarly journals MATHEMATICAL OPTIMIZATION: APPLICATION TO THE DESIGN OF OPTIMAL MICRO-CHANNEL HEAT SINKS

2009 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 58 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. U. Ighalo ◽  
T. Bello-Ochende ◽  
J. P. Meyer

This paper documents the geometrical optimization of a micro-channel heatsink embedded inside a highly conductive solid, with the intent of developing optimal solutions for thermal management in microelectronic devices. The objective is to minimize the peak wall temperature of the heat sink subject to various constraints such as manufacturing restraints, fixed pressure drop and total fixed volume. A gradient based multi-variable optimization algorithm is used as it adequately handles the numerical objective function obtained from the computational fluid dynamics simulation. Optimal geometric parameters defining the micro-channel were obtained for a pressure drop ranging from 10 kPa to 60 kPa corresponding to a dimensionless pressure drop of 6.5 × 107 to 4 × 108 for fixed volumes ranging from 0.7 mm3 of 0.9 mm3. The effect of pressure drop on the aspect ratio, solid volume fraction, channel hydraulic diameter and the minimized peak temperature are reported. Results also show that as the dimensionless pressure drop increases the maximised dimensionless global thermal conductance also increases. These results are in agreement with previous work found in literature.

Author(s):  
Weilin Qu ◽  
Seok-Mann Yoon ◽  
Issam Mudawar

Knowledge of flow pattern and flow pattern transitions is essential to the development of reliable predictive tools for pressure drop and heat transfer in two-phase micro-channel heat sinks. In the present study, experiments were conducted with adiabatic nitrogen-water two-phase flow in a rectangular micro-channel having a 0.406 × 2.032 mm cross-section. Superficial velocities of nitrogen and water ranged from 0.08 to 81.92 m/s and 0.04 to 10.24 m/s, respectively. Flow patterns were first identified using high-speed video imaging, and still photos were then taken for representative patterns. Results reveal that the dominant flow patterns are slug and annular, with bubbly flow occurring only occasionally; stratified and churn flow were never observed. A flow pattern map was constructed and compared with previous maps and predictions of flow pattern transition models. Annual flow is identified as the dominant flow pattern for conditions relevant to two-phase micro-channel heat sinks, and forms the basis for development of a theoretical model for both pressure drop and heat transfer in micro-channels. Features unique to two-phase micro-channel flow, such as laminar liquid and gas flows, smooth liquid-gas interface, and strong entrainment and deposition effects are incorporated into the model. The model shows good agreement with experimental data for water-cooled heat sinks.


Author(s):  
R. R. Sonolikar ◽  
M. P. Patil ◽  
R. B. Mankar ◽  
S. S. Tambe ◽  
B. D. Kulkarni

Abstract The drag coefficient plays a vital role in the modeling of gas-solid flows. Its knowledge is essential for understanding the momentum exchange between the gas and solid phases of a fluidization system, and correctly predicting the related hydrodynamics. There exists a number of models for predicting the magnitude of the drag coefficient. However, their major limitation is that they predict widely differing drag coefficient values over same parameter ranges. The parameter ranges over which models possess a good drag prediction accuracy are also not specified explicitly. Accordingly, the present investigation employs Geldart’s group B particles fluidization data from various studies covering wide ranges of Re and εs to propose a new unified drag coefficient model. A novel artificial intelligence based formalism namely genetic programming (GP) has been used to obtain this model. It is developed using the pressure drop approach, and its performance has been assessed rigorously for predicting the bed height, pressure drop, and solid volume fraction at different magnitudes of Reynolds number, by simulating a 3D bubbling fluidized bed. The new drag model has been found to possess better prediction accuracy and applicability over a much wider range of Re and εs than a number of existing models. Owing to the superior performance of the new drag model, it has a potential to gainfully replace the existing drag models in predicting the hydrodynamic behavior of fluidized beds.


Author(s):  
Jin Yao Ho ◽  
Kai Choong Leong

Abstract A thermal energy storage unit filled with phase change material (PCM) can serve as a heat sink for the cooling of electronics with intermittent or periodic heat dissipation rates. The use of thermal conductive structures (TCS) is an effective method of improving the thermal performance of a PCM-based heat sink. In this paper, topology optimization is explored to develop a new class of TCS with a tree-like structure to enhance the thermal performance of a trapezoidal heat sink. The topology-optimized heat sink was then fabricated by Selective Laser Melting (SLM) using an aluminum alloy, AlSi10Mg, as the base powder. Experiments were performed to evaluate the thermal performance of the topology-optimized heat sink with the tree-like structure. In addition, a conventional longitudinal-fin heat sink of the same solid volume fraction (φ = 16.2%) and a heat sink without enhanced structure were also fabricated and experimentally investigated for comparison. Rubitherm RT-35HC paraffin wax was used as the PCM. Three different heat fluxes of 4.00 kW/m2, 5.08 kW/m2 and 7.24 kW/m2 were applied at the base of each specimen by a silicone rubber heater. The structure wall and the PCM temperatures were measured over time. Our results show that, for all heat rates tested, the topology-optimized heat sink was able to maintain a lower base temperature as compared to the fin-structure and the plain heat sinks. A thermal enhancement ratio (ε) is defined to evaluate the performance of the heat sinks with and without the use of PCM. From the experimental results, the highest ε value of 8.6 was achieved by the topology-optimized heat sink. These results indicate the better performance of the topology-optimized heat sink in dissipating heat as compared to the other specimens.


Entropy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (8) ◽  
pp. 739 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hao Ma ◽  
Zhipeng Duan ◽  
Liangbin Su ◽  
Xiaoru Ning ◽  
Jiao Bai ◽  
...  

The flow in channels of microdevices is usually in the developing regime. Three-dimensional laminar flow characteristics of a nanofluid in microchannel plate fin heat sinks are investigated numerically in this paper. Deionized water and Al2O3–water nanofluid are employed as the cooling fluid in our work. The effects of the Reynolds number (100 < Re < 1000), channel aspect ratio (0 < ε < 1), and nanoparticle volume fraction (0.5% < Φ < 5%) on pressure drop and entropy generation in microchannel plate fin heat sinks are examined in detail. Herein, the general expression of the entropy generation rate considering entrance effects is developed. The results revealed that the frictional entropy generation and pressure drop increase as nanoparticle volume fraction and Reynolds number increase, while decrease as the channel aspect ratio increases. When the nanoparticle volume fraction increases from 0 to 3% at Re = 500, the pressure drop of microchannel plate fin heat sinks with ε = 0.5 increases by 9%. It is demonstrated that the effect of the entrance region is crucial for evaluating the performance of microchannel plate fin heat sinks. The study may shed some light on the design and optimization of microchannel heat sinks.


2004 ◽  
Vol 126 (3) ◽  
pp. 288-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weilin Qu ◽  
Seok-Mann Yoon ◽  
Issam Mudawar

Knowledge of flow pattern and flow pattern transitions is essential to the development of reliable predictive tools for pressure drop and heat transfer in two-phase micro-channel heat sinks. In the present study, experiments were conducted with adiabatic nitrogen-water two-phase flow in a rectangular micro-channel having a 0.406×2.032mm2 cross-section. Superficial velocities of nitrogen and water ranged from 0.08 to 81.92 m/s and 0.04 to 10.24 m/s, respectively. Flow patterns were first identified using high-speed video imaging, and still photos were then taken for representative patterns. Results reveal the dominant flow patterns are slug and annular, with bubbly flow occurring only occasionally; stratified and churn flow were never observed. A flow pattern map was constructed and compared with previous maps and predictions of flow pattern transition models. Features unique to two-phase micro-channel flow were identified and employed to validate key assumptions of an annular flow boiling model that was previously developed to predict pressure drop and heat transfer in two-phase micro-channel heat sinks. This earlier model was modified based on new findings from the adiabatic two-phase flow study. The modified model shows good agreement with experimental data for water-cooled heat sinks.


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