Numerical Study on Heat Transfer Characteristic of the Plate-Fin Microchannel Heat Sink for Water-Based Thermal Management of CPU Chip

Abstract

For effective water-based thermal management of high heat generating CPU chip, a series of numerical simulation has been conducted to study the effects of heat flux, fin height and flow rate on convective thermal performance of the plate-fin microchannel heat sinks. The characteristics of heat transfer and flow resistance have been quantificationally discussed and <i>JF</i> factor is employed to evaluate the comprehensive efficiency of convective heat transfer of microchannel heat sink. Results show that the increase in fin height and flow rate of cooling water is helpful to decrease the maximum temperature of CPU chip. Large flow rate and heat flux and short fin height are benefit to improve Nusselt number <i>Nu</i>, but they lead to large resistance coefficient <i>fRe</i> simultaneously. Analysis of <i>JF</i> factor shows that the microchannel with short fins shows better convective thermal performance when the thermal power of the CPU chip is small. The fins should be heightened when the CPU is operating at higher thermal power. The employment of <i>JF</i> factor in the present work shows its pertinence and convenience in the application of design of microchannel heat sink.