Performance Analysis of a Microchannel Heat Sink with Various Rib Configurations

Microchannel heat sinks with ribbed channels in various configurations have been analyzed numerically using the three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations. Six configurations of ribbed microchannels (i.e., rectangular, semicircular, triangular, rectangular-triangular, rectangular-semicircular, and triangular-circular) were tested with a fixed width and length of ribs, and compared to smooth channels in a Reynolds number range of 100-500. The results indicate that thermal resistance of microchannels is greatly reduced by introducing ribs and that triangular ribs show the lowest thermal resistance throughout the Reynolds number range. However, the pressure drop is also increased greatly because of the ribs, and rectangular ribs induced the largest pressure drop.