Thermo-Hydraulic Performance of Square Micro Pin Fins under Forced Convection

Abstract

Thermal management of the new generation’s high performance electronic and mechanical devices is becoming important due to their miniaturization. Conventionally, the plate fin arrangement is widely used for removal of dissipated heat but, their effectiveness is not up to mark. Among different options, the most attractive and efficient alternative for overcoming this problem is micro pin fin heat sink. This paper presents the experimental investigation of square micro-pin fins heat sink for identifying the most suitable pin fin geometry for heat removal applications under forced convection. Twenty five square micro pin fin heat sinks were tested for three different heat load and Reynolds number. The results show that for large fin height lower thermal resistance was observed at the cost of large pressure drop. The dimensionless heat transfer coefficient increases with fin height and Reynolds number while it decreases with increasing fin spacing. The improvement in micro pin fin efficiency were observed by about 2 to 9% owing to presence of fins on the impingement surface, flow mixing, disruption of the boundary layers, and augmentation of turbulent transport.