Thermal Management Using Microchannel Heat Sinks with Semi-circular Ribs

Abstract

A simulation-based study is conducted on a microchannel heat sink featuring both smooth surfaces and surfaces embedded with semi-circular ribs. The heat sink consists of microchannels that are 1 cm in length and 150 μm in width, with water used as the working fluid. The analysis is performed over a Reynolds number range of 100 to 500. Thermal performance is evaluated based on the surface temperatures of the fluid and the inlet and outlet fluid temperatures. The results indicate that increasing the Reynolds number leads to higher Nusselt numbers and heat transfer coefficients, while the friction factor decreases with increasing Reynolds number. The microchannel heat sink with semi-circular ribs exhibits a significantly higher heat transfer rate compared to the smooth microchannel configuration. However, the total friction factor for the semi-circular-rib microchannels is also higher than that of the smooth channels. Additionally, the results show that the pressure drop increases as the Reynolds number increases.

Keywords: Simulation, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Heat Transfer, Microchannels

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1008071