Thermal performance of double-layer porous-microchannel with phase change slurry

Abstract

Combining porous media paved on sidewall and microencapsulated phase change material (MPCM) suspension as coolant is presented in double-layered microchannel heat sink (MCHS), in which more surface area of porous copper matrix with high thermal conductivity as well as greater temperature difference between the heating wall and working fluid during phase transition of MPCM will enhance heat transfer. The Forchheimer-Brinkman-Darcy model together with energy equation in local thermal equilibrium are employed to deal with fluid flow and heat transfer in porous ribs, and the equivalent heat capacity method is used to describe the phase change process of microcapsules under laminar flow. The influences of coolants, heat sink designs (including the thickness, height, porosity and pore size of porous medium as well as channel number) and working conditions (involving inlet velocity, heat flux and suspension concentration) on thermal and hydraulic characteristics are numerically investigated. The performance evaluation factor (PEF) is introduced to evaluate the comprehensive thermal–hydraulic performance of double-layered MCHS, and the effective performance evaluation factor (PEFeff) is used to compare the overall performance of porous-wall MCHS between conventional arrangements, different channel aspect ratio and channel height ratio configurations. The thickness and height of porous media paved on sidewall should be adjusted reasonably, especially for the arrangement of non-equal porous media, to obtain better overall performance. Different from the variable porosity configuration, the double-layered MCHS cannot rely on losing part of flow performance to obtain better thermal performance in smaller pore size mode, so a larger pore size can be selected to obtain better thermal–hydraulic performance according to actual working conditions. The PEF at larger flow velocity decreases due to higher pressure drop exceeding the benefit of more convection on heat transfer enhancement, in which case the phase change effect in porous-wall mode with MPCM suspension as coolant is suppressed and higher viscosity amplifies the effect of frictional resistance, resulting in a greater drop ratio of PEF than water. The greater PEF in porous-wall MCHS with suspension concentration increasing from 3% to 20% arises than that in non-porous mode, due to the larger surface area of copper matrix with high thermal conductivity and more MPCM particles available for phase transition. The larger aspect ratio configuration can achieve greater PEFeff rise and better overall performance by optimizing fluid velocity in the current mode due to greater thermal resistance drop and less pressure drop rise at lower flow rates, but the variable height ratio structure makes the comprehensive performance of porous-wall MCHS inferior to conventional arrangement due to larger pressure drop rise outweighing the benefits of heat transfer enhancement at the same total volume flux.