Abstract
This paper experimentally and numerically investigated the heat transfer and friction characteristics of microfluidic heat sinks with variously-shaped micro-ribs, i.e., rectangular, triangular and semicircular ribs. The micro-ribs were fabricated on the sidewalls of microfluidic channels by a surface-micromachining micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) process and used as turbulators to improve the heat transfer rate of the microfluidic heat sink. The results indicate that the utilizing of micro-ribs provides a better heat transfer rate, but also increases the pressure drop penalty for microchannels. Furthermore, the heat transfer and friction characteristics of the microchannels are strongly affected by the rib shape. In comparison, the triangular ribbed microchannel possesses the highest Nusselt number and friction factor among the three rib types.
Highlights
Due to extensive growth in the power density of electronic chips and miniaturization of electronic packages, the microfluidic heat sinks based on micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) technology are drawing more and more attention as an advanced cooling approach
The results showed that two ribs produced nearly the same heat transfer, but the semicircle rib yielded a lower pressure drop than the square one [9]
The results showed that features of the inter-rib distribution of the heat transfer coefficient were strongly affected by the rib shape, and trapezoidal ribs with decreasing height in the flow direction provided the highest heat transfer enhancement and pressure drop [10]
Summary
Due to extensive growth in the power density of electronic chips and miniaturization of electronic packages, the microfluidic heat sinks based on micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) technology are drawing more and more attention as an advanced cooling approach. The concept of microfluidic cooling technology was introduced firstly by Tuckerman and Pease [1]. They demonstrated that a heat flux as high as 790 W/cm can be removed with a maximum substrate temperature rise of 71 °C. In order to further enhance the cooling capacity of microfluidic heat sinks, nanoparticles with high thermal conductivity have been proposed to be added in the coolant fluid.
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