Thin-film evaporation on microgrooved heatsinks

A model was developed to simulate the performance of a microgrooved surface undergoing organized, steady-state, thin-film evaporation subject to a superheat at its base. The model is intended to serve as a comprehensive design tool that can be used to optimize the design of a microgrooved surface for a given application. A parametric study was conducted to evaluate the effects of base superheat, channel width, fin-channel width ratio, and channel aspect ratio on the base heat transfer coefficient. Multidimensional optimization was then performed, and it revealed a geometry capable of dissipating 320 W/cm(2) with 10 K base superheat using octane.