Abstract
As the miniaturization and integration become the leading trend of the micro-electro-mechanical systems, it is of great significance to improve the microscaled heat transfer performance. This paper presents a three-dimensional (3D) numerical simulation on the flow characteristics and heat transfer performance of non-Newtonian fluid flow in a manifold microchannel (MMC) heat sink and traditional microchannel (TMC) heat sink. The non-Newtonian fluid was described by the power-law model. The analyses concentrated on the non-Newtonian fluid effect on the heat transfer performance, including the heat transfer efficiency and uniformity of temperature distribution, as well as the influence of inlet/outlet configurations on fluid flow and heat transfer. Comparing with Newtonian fluid flow, pseudo-plastic fluid could reduce the drag resistance in both MMC and TMC, while the dilatant fluid brought in quite larger drag resistance. For the heat transfer performance, the introduction of pseudo-plastic fluid flow greatly improved the heat transfer efficiency owing to the generation of secondary flow due to the shear-thinning property. Besides, the temperature distribution in MMC was more uniform by using pseudo-plastic fluid. Moreover, the inlet/outlet configuration was also important for the design and arrangement of microchannel heat sinks, since the present work showed that the maximum temperature was prone to locating in the corners near the inlet and outlet. This work provides guidance for optimal design of small-scale heat transfer devices in many cooling applications, such as biomedical chips, electronic systems, and advanced fuel cells.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.