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

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 mu m). 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.

Automated summary

This paper numerically analyzes the hydrothermal behavior of different cross-sectional geometries of microchannel heat sinks using ANSYS Fluent. The proposed design of the plus-like shape new microchannel (NMC) proves to have the best performance by achieving the lowest wall temperature, thermal resistance, and entropy generation rate, as well as the highest thermal enhancement factor and thermal transport efficiency. The elliptical, circular, and hexagonal microchannels perform the worst in this study.