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Effect of Cross-Sectional Geometry on Hydrothermal Behavior of Microchannel Heat Sink

  • Faraz Ahmad , Fawad Ahmed , Husan Ali , Zabdur Rehman EMAIL logo , Muhammad Suleman and Izaz Raouf
Published/Copyright: February 9, 2022

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to numerically analyze the hydrothermal behavior of different cross-sectional geometries of microchannel heat sinks (MCHSs) and conduct a comparative analysis of traditional and non-traditional designs using ANSYS Fluent. It is expected that the proposed design discussed in this paper will improve the performance of MCHSs by maximizing the cooling capability and minimizing the thermal resistance and entropy generation rate, thus leading to better energy efficiency. The channel designs include a rectangular microchannel (RMC), a circular microchannel (CMC), an elliptical microchannel (EMC), a trapezoidal microchannel (TMC), a hexagonal microchannel (HMC), and a new microchannel (NMC) which has a plus-like shape. The discussed geometry of the NMC is designed in such a way that it maximizes the cross-sectional area and the wetted perimeter of the channel, keeping the hydraulic diameter constant ( D h = 412 µm). The performance of various channels is compared on the basis of pressure drop, wall temperature, thermal enhancement factor, thermal resistance, thermal transport efficiency, and entropy generation rates. It has been observed that the NMC is capable of cooling effectively and it can achieve a minimum wall temperature of 305 K, thus offering the lowest thermal resistance ( R th ), irreversible heat loss, and entropy generation rate. Moreover, the NMC has achieved the highest value of the thermal enhancement factor, i. e., 1.13, at Re = 1 , 000. Similarly, it has the highest thermal transport efficiency of almost 97 % at Re = 1 , 000, followed by the TMC and the RMC. Overall, the NMC has achieved the best performance in all aspects, followed by the RMC and TMC. The performance of the EMC, the CMC, and the HMC was found to be the worst in this study.

Acknowledgment

The authors acknowledge the support of the Aerospace and Aviation Campus, Kamra, Air University Islamabad, to make this research successful.

  1. Conflict of interest: No conflict of interest.

Nomenclature

A

Area of channel [m2]

P

Perimeter of channel [m]

H

Height of MCHS [m]

W

Width of MCHS [m]

L

Length of MCHS [m]

D h

Hydraulic diameter [m]

u m

Mean velocity [m/s]

h

Heat transfer coefficient [ W m 2 K 1 ]

T w

Wall temperature [K]

T b

Base temperature [K]

T f

Fluid temperature [K]

e

Percentage error

R th

Thermal resistance [K/W]

Nu

Nusselt number

Kn

Knudsen number

Re

Reynolds number

f

Friction factor

S ˙ Δ p

Frictional entropy generation rate [W/K]

S ˙ Δ T

Thermal entropy generation rate [W/K]

S ˙

Total rate of entropy generation [W/K]

N s

Augmentation entropy generation

Δ T

Temperature difference [K]

Δ p

Pressure difference [Pa]

Greek letters

μ

Dynamic viscosity [Pa s]

η

Thermal enhancement factor

η t

Thermal transport efficiency

ρ

Density [kg/m3]

Abbreviations

MCHS

Microchannel heat sink

RMC

Rectangular microchannel

CMC

Circular microchannel

EMC

Elliptical microchannel

TMC

Trapezoidal microchannel

HMC

Hexagonal microchannel

NMC

New microchannel

Subscripts

cond

Conduction

conv

Convection

cap

Capacitance

s

Solid

b

Base

w

Wall

f

Fluid

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Received: 2021-09-06
Revised: 2021-12-31
Accepted: 2022-01-14
Published Online: 2022-02-09
Published in Print: 2022-07-31

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