Three-Dimensional Numerical Study of Conjugate Heat Transfer in Diverging Microchannel

Abstract

Increase in applications of varying cross sectional area microchannels in microdevices has provided the need to understand fluid flow and heat transfer through such flow passages. This study focuses on conjugate heat transfer study through a diverging microchannel. Three-dimensional numerical simulations are performed using commercially available package. Diverging microchannels with different geometrical configurations (i.e. varying angle: 1-8°, depth: 86-200 μm, solid-to- fluid thickness ratio: 1.5-4) are employed for this purpose. Simulations are carried out for varying mass flow rate (3.3 x 10 –5 -8.3 x 10 –5 kg/s) and heat flux (2.4-9.6 W/cm 2 ) conditions. Heat distribution along the flow direction is studied to understand the effect of wall conduction. Wall conduction number ( M ) varies from 0.006 to 0.024 for the range of parameters selected in the study. Wall conduction is observed to be a direct function of depth and solid-to-fluid thickness ratio, and varies inversely with angle of diverging microchannel. It is observed that the area variation and wall conduction contribute separately towards redistribution of the supplied heat flux. This leads to reduced temperature gradients in diverging microchannel. The results presented in this work will be useful for designing future microdevices involving heating or cooling