The effect of geometrical parameters on heat transfer characteristics of microchannels heat sink with different shapes

Abstract

The effect of geometrical parameters on water flow and heat transfer characteristics in microchannels is numerically investigated for Reynolds number range of 100–1000. The three-dimensional steady, laminar flow and heat transfer governing equations are solved using finite volume method. The computational domain is taken as the entire heat sink including the inlet/outlet ports, wall plenums, and microchannels. Three different shapes of microchannel heat sinks are investigated in this study which are rectangular, trapezoidal, and triangular. The water flow field and heat transfer phenomena inside each shape of heated microchannels are examined with three different geometrical dimensions. Using the averaged fluid temperature and heat transfer coefficient in each shape of the heat sink to quantify the fluid flow and temperature distributions, it is found that better uniformities in heat transfer coefficient and temperature can be obtained in heat sinks having the smallest hydraulic diameter. It is also inferred that the heat sink having the smallest hydraulic diameter has better performance in terms of pressure drop and friction factor among other heat sinks studied.