Hydrodynamic and thermal performance of microchannels with different staggered arrangements of cylindrical micro pin fins

Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1115/1.4035655

This study focuses on microheat sinks with different staggered arrangements of micro pin fins (MPFs). A rectangular microchannel with the dimensions of 5000 x 1500 x 100 mu m(3) (l' x w' x h') was considered for all the configurations while different MPF diameters, height over diameter ratio (H/D), and longitudinal and transversal pitch ratios (S-L/D and S-T/D) were considered in different arrangements. Using the ANSYS FLUENT 14.5 commercial software, the simulations were done for different Reynolds numbers between 20 and 160. A constant heat flux of 30 W/cm(2) was applied through the bottom heating section. The performances of the microheat sinks were evaluated using design parameters, namely pressure drop, friction factor, Nusselt number, and thermal-hydraulic performance index (TPI). The effect of each geometrical parameter as well as wake-pin fin interaction patterns were carefully studied using the streamline patterns and temperature profiles of each configuration. The results reveal a great dependency of trends in pressure drops and Nusselt numbers on the wake region lengths as well as the local velocity and pressure gradients. Moreover, the wake region lengths mostly contribute to the increase in obtained pressure drop and Nusselt number with Reynolds number. Although an increase in the H/D and SL/D ratios results in an increase and a decrease in pressure drop, respectively, the effect on the Nusselt number depends on other geometrical parameters and Reynolds number. A larger ST/D ratio generally results in a decrease in the pressure drop and Nusselt number. Finally, while the friction factor decreases with Reynolds number, two different trends are seen for the TPI values of configurations with the H/D ratio of 1 and 2 (D = 100 and 50 mu m). While the trend in the TPIs is increasing for Reynolds numbers between 20 and 40, it reverses for higher Reynolds numbers with a steeper slope in the configurations with the ST/D ratio of 1.5.