Application of thermal resistance network model in optimization design of micro-channel cooling heat sink

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to optimize the configuration sizes of micro-channel cooling heat sink using the thermal resistance network model. The optimized micro-channel heat sink is simulated by computational fluid dynamics method, and the total thermal resistance is calculated to compare with that of thermal resistance network model. Design/methodology/approach - Taking the thermal resistance and the pressure drop as goal functions, a multi-objective optimization model was proposed for the micro-channel cooling heat sink based on the thermal resistance net work model. The Sequential Quadratic Programming procedure was used to do the optimization design of the structure size of the micro-channel. The optimized micro-channel heat sink was numerically simulated by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software. Findings - For the heat sink to cool a chip with the sizes of L x W = 2.5 mm x 2.5 mm and the power of 8 W, the optimized width and height of the micro-channel are 154 mu m and 1,000 mu m, respectively, and its corresponding total thermal resistance is 8.255 K/W. According to the simulation results, the total thermal resistance of whole micro-channel heat sink R-total is 7.596 K/W, which agrees well with the analysis result of thermal resistance network model. Research limitations/implications - The convection heat transfer coefficient is calculated approximatively here for convenience, and that may induce some errors. Originality/value-The maximum difference in temperature of the optimized micro-channel cooling heat sink is 59.064 K, which may satisfy the requirement for removal of high heat flux in new-generation chips.