Thermo-fluidic analysis of microchannel heat sink with inline/staggered square/elliptical fins

Abstract

The present study reports the thermo-fluidic behavior of a microchannel heat sink employed over a heat source dissipating a heat flux of 50 W/cm2. The microchannel heat sink is embedded with elliptical and square fins varied from 11 × 3 (11 fins per row with a total of 3 rows) to 79 × 3 fins and 100 μm to 300 μm height to obtain the optimum configuration for maximum heat transfer and minimum frictional loss. Fluid flow is considered in the laminar range of Re varying from 100 to 400. The problem is solved numerically using a Finite Volume Method based multigrid solver of ANSYS Fluent. The aim of the present study is to investigate the shape effect of square fin (α = 0), square fin (α = 45) and elliptical fins on the heat transfer from the heater surface and frictional loss. This is achieved by keeping the correctional area and the surface the same for all types of fins. It is found that the heater surface temperature monotonously decreases with the number of fins for a fin height more than 200 μm. When different fin shapes are compared, no remarkable difference in the heater surface temperature is observed; however, elliptical fins are marginally more effective for a greater number of fins than the square fin with α = 0 followed by α = 45. Increasing the fin height results in augmenting the heat transfer for all cases. When different arrangements are compared, staggered fins result in slightly better heat transfer than the inline fins except 11 × 3 and 79 × 3 fins. As far as friction factor is concerned, elliptical fins with staggered arrangement provide the least frictional resistance.