Experimental and numerical study on the hydrothermal performances of a mirror Y-shaped convergent mini-channel heat sink

Abstract

To enhance the hydrothermal performances of conventional mini-channel heat sinks, this paper experimentally and numerically investigates the impacts of channel convergence α on the pressure drop (ΔP), the maximum temperature (Tmax), the convective heat transfer coefficient (hs), and the coefficient of performance (COP) of a mirror Y-shaped convergent mini-channel heat sink (MYCMCHS) with a rectangular channel cross-section when the overall channel volume is fixed. The results show that ΔP of MYCMCHS initially decreases and subsequently increases with the growth of the channel convergence α; however, Tmax declines but hs grows with the drop of α. The different dependences of hydraulic and thermal performances on the channel convergence result in the COP of the MYCMCHS exhibiting an initial increase followed by a subsequent decrease with the rise of α. The numerical results further indicate that at the inlet volume flow rates of 0.05, 0.1, and 0.15 L/min, the maximum COP achieved at α = 0.7 rises 19.91 %, 20.57 %, and 22.59 % respectively in comparison to the COP of the heat sink without channel convergence (α = 1). This work validates the performance advantages of channel convergence and provides a possibility to enhance the hydrothermal performances of heat sink.