Numerical Analysis of Constructal Water-Cooled Microchannel Heat Sinks with Multiple Bifurcations in the Entrance Region
Author
Summary, in English
The Constructal Theory is applied to obtain better thermal performance from a type of microchannel heat sink. Based on a smooth, straight, rectangular microchannel heat sink (Case 1), three different configurations of constructal multiple bifurcation are designed for the entrance region of each microchannel. These types are one bifurcation (Case 2), two bifurcations with the second placed in the front part (Case 3), and two bifurcations with the second bifurcation placed in the front part (Case 4). The corresponding laminar flow and heat transfer fields are investigated numerically by means of computational fluid dynamics. The effects of the bifurcation number and length ratio on pressure drop and overall thermal resistance are observed. The overall thermal resistance for the four microchannel heat sinks is compared when subjected to pumping power. It is found that designing one or two bifurcations (Cases 2, 3, 4) in the entrance region can improve thermal performance effectively. It is also recommended to place the second bifurcation in the back part (Case 4) of the microchannel heat sinks to obtain good overall thermal performance by proper design of the bifurcation position and number of channels.
Department/s
Publishing year
2015
Language
English
Pages
632-650
Publication/Series
Numerical Heat Transfer Part A: Applications
Volume
67
Issue
6
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Topic
- Energy Engineering
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1040-7782