Thermal–Hydraulic Performance Analysis of Combined Heat Sink with Open Microchannels and Embedded Pin Fins

Abstract

An open type of microchannel with diamond pin fins (OM-DPFs) is introduced for the cooling of high-performance electronic chips. For a Reynolds number (Re) of 247~1173, a three-dimensional model is established to explore the hydrothermal properties of the OM-DPF and compare it to traditional heat sinks with closed rectangular microchannels (RMs), heat sinks with open microchannels (OMs), and the results in the existing research. Firstly, the synergy between tip clearance and pin fins on the hydrothermal properties is discussed. Secondly, the entropy production principle is adopted to analyze the irreversible losses for different heat sinks. Lastly, the total efficiencies of different heat sinks are assessed. The RMs present the worst heat transfer with the lowest friction loss. For the OMs, the temperature and pressure drop are decreased slightly compared to those of the RMs, and the irreversible loss is reduced by 4% at Re = 1173 because of the small tip clearance. But the total efficiency is lower than that of the RMs because the pressure drop advantage is offset by the weak heat transfer. For the OM-DPF, the combined structure has a noticeable impact on the multiple physical fields and hydrothermal characteristics, which present the best thermal performance at the cost of the highest friction loss. The irreversible loss of heat transfer in the OM-DPF is reduced obviously, but the friction irreversible loss significantly increases at high Re values. At Re = 429, the total entropy production of the OM-DPF is reduced by 47.57% compared with the RM. Compared to the OM and the single-pin fin structure in the literature, the total efficiency of the OM-DPF is increased by 14.56% and 40.32% at Re = 614. For a pump power of 0.1 W, the total thermal resistance (Rth) of the OM-DPF is dropped by 23.77% and 21.19% compared to the RM and OM. For a similar Rth, the pump power of the combined structure is 63.64% and 42.86% lower than that of the RM and OM. Thus, the novel combined heat sink can achieve efficient heat removal while controlling the energy consumption of liquid cooling systems, which has bright application prospects.