Thermal management of an asymmetrical wavy microchannel heat sink via Ag/water nanofluid

Abstract

The ever-increasing demand for electronic systems to enhance their performance and processing speed has exponentially increased their heat generation, especially those containing microstructures with reduced surface area. Tackling these complex thermal management challenges creates an urgent need to design and model compact efficient cooling systems. In this investigation, a unique design of a microchannel heat sink with sinusoidal and absolute sinusoidal wavy walls with/without nanofluid is proposed. Heat transfer enhancement and fluid flow characteristics are numerically investigated by developing a two-dimensional finite element model for Reynolds numbers 5, 100, and 500. The periodicity of the wavy section and the different volume fractions of silver nanoparticles ranging from 0 to 4% in water are further considered. The entropy generation is analyzed using the Bejan number. The findings revealed that while the entropy generation rises in the absolute sinusoidal channel, it has a better heat transfer performance by 10.3%, 15.8%, and 16.6% than a straight microchannel for the ascending Reynolds numbers. Interestingly, the channel's heat transfer and thermal efficiency decrease when an unnecessary number of sinusoidal periods are used. The thermal efficiency improves by 3.35% compared to the straight microchannel by employing only one absolute sinusoidal wavelength along the channel.