Heat transfer enhancement in microchannel heat sinks using nanofluids

Heat transfer enhancement in a 3-D microchannel heat sink (MCHS) using nanofluids is investigated by a numerical study. The addition of nanoparticles to the coolant fluid changes its thermophysical properties in ways that are closely related to the type of nanoparticle, base fluid, particle volume fraction, particle size, and pumping power. The calculations in this work suggest that the best heat transfer enhancement can be obtained by using a system with an Al₂O₃–water nanofluid-cooled MCHS. Moreover, using base fluids with lower dynamic viscosity (such as water) and substrate materials with high thermal conductivity enhance the thermal performance of the MCHS. The results also show that as the particle volume fraction of the nanofluid increases, the thermal resistance first decreases and then increases. The lowest thermal resistance can be obtained by properly adjusting the volume fraction and pumping power under given geometric conditions. For a moderate range of particle sizes, the MCHS yields better performance when nanofluids with smaller nanoparticles are used. Furthermore, the overall thermal resistance of the MCHS is reduced significantly by increasing the pumping power. The heat transfer performance of Al₂O₃–water and diamond–water nanofluids was 21.6% better than that of pure water. The results reported here may facilitate improvements in the thermal performance of MCHSs.     

Effect of geometric configuration on the laminar flow and heat transfer in microchannel heat sinks with cavities and fins

A numerical simulation is performed to investigate the characteristics of flow and heat transfer in microchannels with cavities and fins. Nine microchannels with various shaped cavities and fins are presented and compared to the smooth microchannel. The effect of cavity and fin shapes on the flow field and temperature field is analyzed. Results show that the presence of cavity and fin can increase the heat transfer area, intensify mainstream disturbance, and induce chaotic advection, which result in obvious heat transfer enhancement. The shape of cavity or fin has a great influence on the hydrodynamic and thermal performance for such micro heat sinks. Based on the performance evaluation criterion (PEC), the overall performance of the microchannel is evaluated. The combination of cavities and fins leads to lower bottom temperature, lower net temperature gradient of fluid, and better heat transfer performance, which has the potential to meet the increased heat removal requirement.     

The role of microchannel geometry selection on heat transfer enhancement in heat sinks: A review

Extensive research has been carried out by researchers for improving the thermal efficiency of the microchannel. There are various types of methodologies that have been proposed by authors for different geometry and fluid flow. The use of microchannel in the miniature heat exchangers and microchannel heat sink (MCHS) have taken the science of heat transfer to an another level for which the field of electronic device cooling, aerospace applications, automobile sectors, biomedical engineering, and chemical engineering sectors are being keen toward further development of the technology. Since 3 decades, the microchannel has been tested numerically, experimentally, and analytically for establishing the theories of hydraulic and thermal efficiency during fluid flow. Improper geometry selection of microchannel may lead to carry various losses such as pressure drop, friction factor, wall shear stress, and temperature jump. Available investigations and results have been reviewed immensely in this paper to give a clear prospective for further research in selecting a proper channel geometry.     

Effects of fin shapes on heat transfer in microchannel heat sinks

In the present study, compact water cooling of high‐density, high‐speed, very‐large‐scale integrated (VLSI) circuits with the help of microchannel heat exchangers were investigated analytically. This study also presents the result of mathematical analysis based on the modified Bessel function of laminar fluid flow and heat transfer through combined conduction and convection in a microchannel heat sink with triangular extensions. The main purpose of this paper is to find the dimensions of a heat sink that give the least thermal resistance between the fluid and the heat sink, and the results are compared with that of rectangular fins. It is seen that the triangular heat sink requires less substrate material as compared to rectangular fins, and the heat transfer rate per unit volume has been almost doubled by using triangular heat sinks. It is also found that the effectiveness of the triangular fin is higher than that of the rectangular fin. Therefore, the triangular heat sink has the ability to dissipate large amounts of heat with relatively less temperature rise for the same fin volume. Alternatively, triangular heat sinks may thus be more cost effective to use for cooling ultra‐high speed VLSI circuits than rectangular heat sinks.     

Laminar convective heat transfer in a microchannel with internal longitudinal fins

A numerical study was conducted to investigate the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics of a square microchannel with four longitudinal internal fins. Three-dimensional numerical simulations were performed on the microchannel with variable fin height ratio in the presence of a hydrodynamically developed, thermally developing laminar flow. Constant heat flux boundary conditions were assumed on the external walls of the square microchannel. Results of the average local Nusselt number distribution along the channel length were obtained as a function of the fin height ratio. The analysis was carried out for different fin heights and flow parameters. Interesting observations that provide more physical insight on this passive enhancement technique, and the existence of an optimum fin height are brought out in the present study.     

Effect of substrate thickness and material on heat transfer in microchannel heat sinks

Heat and fluid flow in microchannels of size (200μm × 200 μm, 5 cm long) of different substrate thicknesses (t = 100 μm–1000 μm) and different MEMS (Microelectromechanical Systems) materials (Polyimide, Silica Glass, Quartz, Steel, Silicon, Copper) was studied to observe the effects of thermal conductivity and substrate thickness on convective heat transfer in laminar internal flows.The results of the model were first validated by the theoretical results recommended by standard forced convection problem with H1 (Constant heat flux boundary condition) condition before the results from the actual microchannel configurations were obtained. Thereafter, general Nusselt number results were obtained from the models of many microchannel configurations based on the commercial package COMSOL MULTIPHYSICS^® 3.4 and were discussed on both local and average basis.A general Nusselt number correlation for fully developed laminar flow was developed as a function of two dimensionless parameters, namely Bi, Biot number and relative conductivity k¹, to take the conduction effects of the solid substrate on heat transfer into account. It was also demonstrated when the commonly used assumption of constant heat flux boundary (H1) condition is applicable in heat and fluid flow analysis in microfluidic systems. For this, a new dimensionless parameter was employed. A value of 1.651 for this suggested dimensionless parameter (Bi^0.04k^1?0.24) corresponds to 95% of the Nusselt number associated with the constant heat flux boundary condition so that it could be set as a boundary for the applicability of constant heat flux boundary (H1) condition in microfluidic systems involving heat transfer.     

Heat transfer enhancement of finned-tube heat exchanger using nozzle- and diffuser-shaped fins instead of straight fins

In this paper, a new method has been used to improve the heat transfer rate in the finned-tube heat exchanger with nozzle- and diffuser-shaped arrangement. For this study, the effect of several parameters was studied numerically. For the computational fluid dynamics simulation, the continuity, momentum, and energy equations were solved by the finite volume method using the standard k–ԑ model. The rate of heat transfer increases with the decreasing of fin bend radius (15 < R_fb < 20) for both nozzle-shaped fin and diffuser-shaped fin. By increasing of side temperature (600 < T_side < 900) and side Reynolds number (2000 < Re_side < 5000) the heat transfer rate increased for both nozzle- and diffuser-shaped fins. Results showed that a nozzle-shaped fin with a fin bend radius of 15 mm under the condition of Re_in = 20,000, T_side = 900 K, and Re_side = 3400 has a higher effect on heat transfer in comparison with the other types of fins. The maximum heat transfer rate was almost 39% and 35% for the nozzle-shaped fin with a bend radius of 15 mm and diffuser-shaped fin with a bend radius of 15 mm compared with the simple tube, respectively. Finally, correlational equations have been suggested to forecast the average Nu number as functions of various parameters of the tube equipped with different types of outer fins involving nozzle- and diffuser-shaped.     

Effects of thermal property variations on the liquid flow and heat transfer in microchannel heat sinks

Three-dimensional conjugate numerical simulations using the inlet, average and variable thermal properties respectively were performed for the laminar water flow and heat transfer in rectangular microchannels with D_h of 0.333 mm at Re of 101–1775. Both average and variable properties are adopted in data reduction. The calculated local and average characteristics of flow and heat transfer are compared among different methods, and with the experiments, correlations and simplified theoretical solution data from published literatures. Compared with the inlet property method, both average and variable property methods have significantly lower f_app, but higher convective heat transfer coefficient h_z and Nu_z. Compared with the average property method, the variable property method has higher f_appRe_ave and lower h_z at the beginning, but lower f_appRe_ave and higher h_z at the later section of the channel. The calculated Nu_ave agree well with the Sieder-Tate correlation and the recently reported experiment, validating the traditional macroscale theory in predicting the flow and heat transfer characteristics in the dimension and Re range of the present work.     

扭带强化传热性能的数值与实验研究

通过模拟和实验的方法研究在湍流工况下(3 000Re10 000)换热器管内插入不同扭带模型后的传热特性和阻力特性。区别于传统螺旋扭带,提出一种顺时针与逆时针交替扭转的正反扭带。对不同扭率的传统扭带以及扭率为3的无缺口和半圆缺口正反转扭带进行模拟计算,并将模拟结果与实验结果进行对比验证。结果表明:在湍流流态下,雷诺数越小,扭带的强化换热效果表现越好;对不同扭率的扭带,其努塞尔数、摩擦系数和综合性能指标随扭率的减小而增大;扭率为3时,两种正反扭带的强化换热效果均优于传统扭带,无缺口正反扭带的换热效果最好;模拟计算的结果数据与实验结果数据比较,最大误差不超过8%。     

Numerical simulation of heat transfer enhancement in wavy microchannel heat sink

In this paper, heat transfer and water flow characteristics in wavy microchannel heat sink (WMCHS) with rectangular cross-section with various wavy amplitudes ranged from 125 to 500 μm is numerically investigated. This investigation covers Reynolds number in the range of 100 to 1000. The three-dimensional steady, laminar flow and heat transfer governing equations are solved using the finite-volume method (FVM). The water flow field and heat transfer phenomena inside the heated wavy microchannels is simulated and the results are compared with the straight microchannels. The effect of using a wavy flow channel on the MCHS thermal performance, the pressure drop, the friction factor, and wall shear stress is reported in this article. It is found that the heat transfer performance of the wavy microchannels is much better than the straight microchannels with the same cross-section. The pressure drop penalty of the wavy microchannels is much smaller than the heat transfer enhancement achievement. Both friction factor and wall shear stress are increased proportionally as the amplitude of wavy microchannels increased.     

Influence of various base nanofluids and substrate materials on heat transfer in trapezoidal microchannel heat sinks

Numerical investigations are performed to investigate the laminar flow and heat transfer characteristics of trapezoidal MCHS using various types of base nanofluids and various MCHS substrate materials on MCHS performance. This study considered four types of base fluids including water, ethylene glycol (EG), oil, and glycerin with 2% volume fraction of diamond nanoparticle, and four types of MCHS substrate materials including copper, aluminium, steel, and titanium. The three-dimensional steady, laminar flow and heat transfer governing equations are solved using the finite volume method. It is found that the best uniformities in heat transfer coefficient and temperature among the four mixture flows can be obtained using glycerin-base nanofluid followed by oil-base nanofluid, EG-base nanofluid, and water-base nanofluid heat sinks. However, the heat transfer performance of water-base nanofluid can be greatly enhanced in steel made substrate heat sink.     

Toward the heat convection enhancement of nanofluids flowing in a 3D microchannel affected by a nonuniform magnetic field

In the present investigation, the behavior of laminar convective flow and heat transfer in a three-dimensional horizontal square duct using different water-based nanofluids (Fe₃O₄/water, and carbon nanotubes/water) is numerically investigated. The channel is subjected to a periodic partial or full magnetic field. The outer surface is subjected to a constant heat flux density. The problem is numerically solved via the finite volume method with a second-order precision. The numerical simulations covered a range of the Reynolds number 50 ≤ Re ≤ 400, Hartmann number 0 ≤ Ha ≤ 50, and concentration of nanoparticles 0 ≤ ϕ ≤ 0.02 for different modes of the magnetic field application and direction. Examination of the hydrodynamic and thermal behavior shows significant heat transfer performances obtained when applying transversal and partial periodic magnetic fields simultaneously. More precisely, it is found that the favorable protocol improved the heat transfer rate by 85% in the duct flowing by the Ferrofluid at Ha = 50. Furthermore, findings illustrate that the overall heat transfer rate presented in terms of the mean Nusselt number and the highest compromise (heat transfer augmentation-pressure losses diminution) are obtained in the case of Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles for all taken values of Reynolds and Hartmann numbers, whatever the manner and direction of the applied magnetic field.     

Investigation of dimpled fins for heat transfer enhancement in compact heat exchangers

Direct and Large-Eddy simulations are conducted in a fin bank with dimples and protrusions over a Reynolds number range of Re_H = 200 to 15,000, encompassing laminar, transitional and fully turbulent regimes. Two dimple-protrusion geometries are studied in which the same imprint pattern is investigated for two different channel heights or fin pitches, Case 1 with twice the fin pitch of Case 2. The smaller fin pitch configuration (Case 2) develops flow instabilities at Re_H = 450, whereas Case 1 undergoes transition at Re_H = 900. Case 2, exhibits higher Nusselt numbers and friction coefficients in the low Reynolds number regime before Case 1 transitions to turbulence, after which, the differences between the two decreases considerably in the fully turbulent regime. Vorticity generated within the dimple cavity and at the dimple rim contribute substantially to heat transfer augmentation on the dimple side, whereas flow impingement and acceleration between protrusions contribute substantially on the protrusion side. While friction drag dominates losses in Case 1 at low Reynolds numbers, both form and friction drag contributed equally in Case 2. As the Reynolds number increases to fully turbulent flow, form drag dominates in both cases, contributing about 80% to the total losses. While both geometries are viable and competitive with other augmentation surfaces in the turbulent regime, Case 2 with larger feature sizes with respect to the fin pitch is more appropriate in the low Reynolds number regime Re_H < 2000, which makes up most of the operating range of typical compact heat exchangers.     

空气横掠矩形翅片椭圆管束换热规律的数值研究

采用Fluent软件对矩形翅片椭圆管束空气侧的对流换热情况进行了三维数值模拟,获得了不同流速下翅片表面温度分布,分析了迎面风速与换热系数之间的关系,随着速度的增大,空气侧的换热系数增加,并拟合了换热计算公式。同时分析了不同翅片间距对换热的影响因素,随着翅片间距的增大,空气侧换热系数增加,而且随着Rg数的增加,换热的强化更加明显。     

Method to improve geometry for heat transfer enhancement in PCM composite heat sinks

Use of composite heat sinks (CHS), constructed using a vertical array of ‘fins’ (or elemental composite heat sink, ECHS), made of large latent heat capacity phase change materials (PCM) and highly conductive base material (BM) is a much sought cooling method for portable electronic devices, which are to be kept below a set point temperature (SPT). This paper presents a thermal design procedure for proper sizing of such CHS, for maximizing the energy storage and the time of operation until all of the latent heat storage is exhausted.For a given range of heat flux, q″, and height, A, of the CHS, using a scaling analysis of the governing two dimensional unsteady energy equations, a relation between the critical dimension for the ECHS and the amount of PCM used (?) is determined. For a ?, when the dimensions of the ECHS are less than this critical dimension, all of the PCM completely melts when the CHS reaches the SPT. The results are further validated using appropriate numerical method solutions. A proposed correlation for chosen material properties yields predictions of the critical dimensions within 10% average deviation. However, the thermal design procedure detailed in this paper is valid, in general, for similar finned-CHS configurations, composed of any high latent heat storage PCM and high conductive BM combination.     

开缝型翅片流动与传热三维数值模拟

通过数值模拟,研究空调系统使用的开缝型翅片的传热与阻力特性。对三种型式的开缝型翅片进行模拟,得出了流场和温度场。通过对比分析发现,双边交替开缝的slit-2型翅片,换热性能最好,X型双向开缝片的性能次之,单边开缝的slit-1型翅片换热效果低于前两种。数值模拟还得出,空气流过slit-x型翅片的阻力最大,流过slit-1型翅片的阻力最小。     

肋参数对复合肋套管流动和换热的影响

同心复合套管式回热器是微型燃气轮机的重要部件—紧凑式回热器的一种类型。采用Fluent对有交错肋的同心套管中的对流与换热进行了数值模拟。结果表明：在给定的边界条件下,肋的一些参数,比如冷、热流体通道内的肋之间的夹角,肋片的导热系数和管长会对Nu数产生影响,但夹角的变化对摩擦系数几乎没影响。     

Heat transfer and pressure loss characteristics of very compact heat sinks with plate fins cooled by jets

High-performance and very compact heat sinks have been developed for effective cooling of VLSIs with high heat-generation densities. Their heat transfer and pressure loss characteristics in air-jet cooling have been experimentally studied. The highly compact heat sinks were plate-fin arrays with a very small fin pitch of 0.4–2.0 mm. The rectangular jet nozzle width that gave the highest cooling performance was 30 to 40% of the streamwise length of the heat sinks. The influence of fin height on heat transfer became weak when the ratio of the height to the thickness of the fin exceeded approximately 35. When the air flow rate was constant, the thermal conductance increased as the fin pitch decreased. For a constant fin pitch, heat sinks with smaller fin thickness showed larger thermal conductance at a given blower power consumption. In our experimental range, the heat dissipation rate per unit heat sink volume increased as the base plate area of the heat sink became small. © 1998 Scripta Technica, Heat Trans Jpn Res, 27(6): 399–414, 1998     

Effect of non-uniform heating on the performance of the microchannel heat sinks

The present study experimentally investigates the performance of a 2-pass microchannel heat sink subject to non-uniform heating. The size of the microchannel heat sink is 132 mm × 82 mm × 6 mm with a rectangular channel of 1 mm × 1 mm. Three independent heaters having identical size (96 mm × 38.5 mm × 1 mm) is placed consecutively below the microchannel heat sink. Two kinds of manifolds are used for testing of the microchannel, one with a side entrance (type A) and the other with a front entrance (type B). Test results show that both maximum temperature and average temperature rise with the total input power, and this is applicable for both manifolds. For uniform heating condition, the maximum temperature for type B manifold is much lower than that for type A manifold due to a better flow distribution and heat transfer performance. The pressure drop is slightly reduced with the rise of supplied power. For non-uniform heating, the maximum temperature and the average temperature depend on the location of heaters. For the same supplied power with non-uniform heating, it is found that heater being placed at the inlet of the microchannel will give rise to a higher maximum temperature than that being placed at the rear of the heat sink. This phenomenon is especially pronounced when the inlet flowrate is comparatively small and becomes less noted as the inlet flowrate is increased to 0.7 L/min.     

Optimal thermal design of microchannel heat sinks with different geometric configurations

In this study, three-dimensional models of microchannel heat sinks (MCHSs) with different geometric configurations (such as single-layered- (SL), double-layered- (DL) or tapered-(T)-channels) are constructed by an optimization procedure. This procedure integrates a direct problem solver with a simplified conjugate-gradient method as the optimizer. The overall thermal resistance of an MCHS is the objective function to be minimized with respect to geometric parameters, such as the number of channels, channel width ratio, channel aspect ratio and tapered ratios, as the search variables. The optimal thermal resistance is found to decrease in the following order: the initial guess parallel channel (IGP channel), SL-, DL- and T-channel designs. In addition, the T-channel design has the minimum temperature difference and the most uniform temperature distribution, followed by the DL-, SL- and IGP-channel designs. Moreover, the optimal thermal resistance reduces with the pumping power for the various channel configuration designs, and the lowest thermal resistance corresponds to the T-channel design. The larger the pumping power, the larger the decrement in thermal resistance. Therefore, the optimal T-channel is the best MCHS design when considering thermal resistance and temperature distribution uniformity.