Two-Phase Stacked Microchannel Heat Sinks for Microelectronics Cooling

Abstract

Stacked microchannel heat sinks with two-phase flow have been analyzed using the Finite Element Method (FEM). The present method is a simple and practical approach for analyzing the thermal performance of single or multi layered microchannel heat sinks with either single or two-phase flow. A unique 10 noded finite element is used for the channel discretization. Two-phase thermal resistance, pressure drop and pumping power of single, double and triple stack microchannel heat sinks are determined at different base heat fluxes ranging from 150 W/cm2 to 300 W/cm2. The temperature distribution along the length of the microchannel is also plotted. It is found that stacked microchannel heat sinks with two-phase flow are thermally more efficient than two-phase single layer microchannel heat sinks, both in terms of thermal resistance and pumping power requirements. It is observed that the thermal resistance of a double stack microchannel heat sink with two-phase flow is about 40% less than that for a single stack heat sink. A triple stack heat sink yields a further 20% reduction in the thermal resistance and at the same time operates with about 30% less pumping power compared to a single stack heat sink. The effect of channel aspect ratio on the thermal resistance and pressure drop of stacked microchannel heat sinks with two-phase flow are also studied.