Heat Transfer Improvement in Micro-Channel Heat Sinks by Modifying Some Design and Operating Conditions

Abstract

For effective thermal management of high heat generating microprocessors, the effects of volumetric flow rates, flow direction and four design parameters are numerically explored, which are: the channel number, the bottom channel height, the vertical rib width and the thicknesses of two horizontal ribs. The microprocessor heat was simulated by a heated copper block with water as a coolant. At a heater power of 325 W, the lowest Tbase (40.5 °C) is obtained by using a heat sink with fin spacing equal to 0.2 mm, and which is found to be lower by about 9% than that obtained with the commercial heat sink (44 °C) in the open literature. For a simple geometry and by using a volumetric flow rate of 2 L/min, the lowest Tbase obtained is 37.35 °C. However, with a single row of round shaped channels and with just a volumetric flow rate of 1 L/min, the lowest Tbase obtained is 37.06 °C, i.e. an improvement by about 2.2%. Another reduction of the Tbase is obtained when using two rounds shaped channels; the new Tbase is 36.25 °C, i.e. an improvement by about 5.8 %. The review of the obtained results allows saying that Tbase temperature was reduced from 44°C to 36.25°C, after earlier mentioned changes on the heat sink, with a percentage of total heat exchange improvement of about 17, 7%.
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