Analysis of Parallel Microchannels for Flow Control and Hot Spot Cooling

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen A. Solovitz
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Power Law ◽  
Hot Spots ◽  
Hot Spot ◽  
Electronics Cooling ◽  
Flow Distribution ◽  
Reynolds Numbers ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Cooling Devices ◽  
Parallel Microchannels

Microchannel heat transfer is commonly applied in the thermal management of high-power electronics. Most designs involve a series of parallel microchannels, which are typically analyzed by assuming a uniform flow distribution. However, many devices have a nonuniform thermal distribution, with hot spots producing much higher heat fluxes and temperatures than the baseline. Although solutions have been developed to improve local heat transfer, these are advanced methods using embedded cooling devices. As an alternative, a passive solution is developed here using analytical methods to optimize the channel geometry for a desired, nonuniform flow distribution. This results in a simple power law for the passage diameter, which may be useful for many microfluidic systems, including electronics cooling devices. Computational simulations are then applied to demonstrate the effectiveness of the power law for laminar conditions. At low Reynolds numbers, the flow distribution can be controlled to good accuracy, matching the desired distribution to within less than 1%. Further simulations consider the control of hot spots in laminar developing flow. Under these circumstances, temperatures can be made uniform to within 2 °C over a range of Reynolds numbers (60 to 300), demonstrating the capability of this power law solution.

Uniform Flow Control for a Multipassage Microfluidic Sensor

2013 ◽  
Vol 135 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen A. Solovitz ◽  
Jiheng Zhao ◽  
Wei Xue ◽  
Jie Xu
Keyword(s):  
Standard Deviation ◽  
Power Law ◽  
Electronics Cooling ◽  
Flow Distribution ◽  
Uniform Flow ◽  
Individual Agent ◽  
Microparticle Image Velocimetry ◽  
Uniform Flow Distribution ◽  
Channel Space ◽  
Parallel Microchannels

Microfluidic sensors have been very effective for rapid, portable bioanalysis, such as in determining the pH of a sample. By simultaneously detecting multiple chemicals, the overall measurement performance can be greatly improved. One such method involves a series of parallel microchannels, each of which measures one individual agent. For unbiased readings, the flow rate in each channel should be approximately the same. In addition, the system needs a compact volume which reduces both the wasted channel space and the overall device cost. To achieve these conditions, a manifold was designed using a tapered power law, based on a concept derived for electronics cooling systems. This manifold features a single feed passage of varying diameter, eliminating the excess volume from multiple branch steps. The design was simulated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD), which demonstrated uniform flow performance within 2.5% standard deviation. The design was further examined with microparticle image velocimetry (PIV), and the experimental flow rates were also uniform with approximately 10% standard deviation. Hence, the tapered power law can provide a uniform flow distribution in a compact package, as is needed in both this microfluidic sensor and in electronics cooling applications.

Experimental and Analytical Investigation of Compact Liquid Cooled Heat Sinks

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Zugic ◽  
J. R. Culham ◽  
P. Teertstra ◽  
Y. Muzychka ◽  
K. Horne ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Experimental Tests ◽  
Reynolds Numbers ◽  
High Heat ◽  
Analytical Investigation ◽  
Boundary Resistance ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Heat Sinks ◽  
Air Cooling ◽  
Design Tools

Compact, liquid cooled heat sinks are used in applications where high heat fluxes and boundary resistance preclude the use of more traditional air cooling techniques. Four different liquid cooled heat sink designs, whose core geometry is formed by overlapped ribbed plates, are examined. The objective of this analysis is to develop models that can be used as design tools for the prediction of overall heat transfer and pressure drop of heat sinks. Models are validated for Reynolds numbers between 300 and 5000 using experimental tests. The agreement between the experiments and the models ranges from 2.35% to 15.3% RMS.

Direct Liquid Cooling of High Flux LED Systems: Hot Spot Abatement

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enes Tamdogan ◽  
Mehmet Arik ◽  
M. Baris Dogruoz
Keyword(s):  
Hot Spots ◽  
Hot Spot ◽  
Heat Removal ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Light Extraction ◽  
Junction Temperature ◽  
System Level ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Liquid Cooling ◽  
Wide Range

With the recent advances in wide band gap device technology, solid-state lighting (SSL) has become favorable for many lighting applications due to energy savings, long life, green nature for environment, and exceptional color performance. Light emitting diodes (LED) as SSL devices have recently offered unique advantages for a wide range of commercial and residential applications. However, LED operation is strictly limited by temperature as its preferred chip junction temperature is below 100 °C. This is very similar to advanced electronics components with continuously increasing heat fluxes due to the expanding microprocessor power dissipation coupled with reduction in feature sizes. While in some of the applications standard cooling techniques cannot achieve an effective cooling performance due to physical limitations or poor heat transfer capabilities, development of novel cooling techniques is necessary. The emergence of LED hot spots has also turned attention to the cooling with dielectric liquids intimately in contact with the heat and photon dissipating surfaces, where elevated LED temperatures will adversely affect light extraction and reliability. In the interest of highly effective heat removal from LEDs with direct liquid cooling, the current paper starts with explaining the increasing thermal problems in electronics and also in lighting technologies followed by a brief overview of the state of the art for liquid cooling technologies. Then, attention will be turned into thermal consideration of approximately a 60W replacement LED light engine. A conjugate CFD model is deployed to determine local hot spots and to optimize the thermal resistance by varying multiple design parameters, boundary conditions, and the type of fluid. Detailed system level simulations also point out possible abatement techniques for local hot spots while keeping light extraction at maximum.

The Influence of Confinement on the Hydrodynamic Characteristics of a Cylindrical Pillar Within a Microchannel

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
John O’Connor ◽  
Jeff Punch ◽  
Nicholas Jeffers ◽  
Jason Stafford
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Flow Regime ◽  
Power Law ◽  
Open Channel ◽  
Head Loss ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Hydrodynamic Characteristics ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Number Range

Microfluidic cooling technologies for future electronic and photonic microsystems require more efficient flow configurations to improve heat transfer without a hydrodynamic penalty. Although conventional microchannel heat sinks are effective at dissipating large heat fluxes, their large pressure drops are a limiting design factor. There is some evidence in the literature that obstacles such as pillars placed in a microchannel can enhance downstream convective heat transfer with some increase in pressure drop. In this paper, measured head-loss coefficients are presented for a set of single microchannels of nominal hydraulic diameter 391μm and length 30mm, each containing a single, centrally-located cylindrical pillar covering a range of confinement ratios, β = 0.1–0.7, over a Reynolds number range of 40–1900. The increase in head-loss due to the addition of the pillar ranged from 143% to 479%, compared to an open channel. To isolate the influence of the pillar, the head-loss contribution of the open channel was extracted from the data for each pillar configuration. The data was curve-fitted to a decaying power-law relationship. High coefficients of determination were recorded with low root mean squared errors, indicating good fits to the data. The data set was surface-fitted with a power law relationship using the Reynolds number based on the cylinder diameter. This was found to collapse the data well below a Reynolds number of 425 to an accuracy of ± 20%. Beyond this Reynolds number an inflection point was observed, indicating a change in flow regime similar to that of a cylinder in free flow. This paper gives an insight into the hydrodynamic behavior of a microchannel containing cylindrical pillars in a laminar flow regime, and provides a practical tool for determining the head-loss of a configuration that has been demonstrated to improve downstream heat transfer in microchannels.

Forced Convection in a Porous Channel With Discrete Heat Sources

2000 ◽  
Vol 123 (2) ◽  
pp. 404-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Cui ◽  
X. Y. Huang ◽  
C. Y. Liu
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Reynolds Numbers ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Porous Channel ◽  
Heat Sources ◽  
Nusselt Numbers ◽  
Discrete Heat Sources ◽  
Flow Through ◽  
Good Agreement

An experimental study was conducted on the heat transfer characteristics of flow through a porous channel with discrete heat sources on the upper wall. The temperatures along the heated channel wall were measured with different heat fluxes and the local Nusselt numbers were calculated at the different Reynolds numbers. The temperature distribution of the fluid inside the channel was also measured at several points. The experimental results were compared with that predicted by an analytical model using the Green’s integral over the discrete sources, and a good agreement between the two was obtained. The experimental results confirmed that the heat transfer would be more significant at leading edges of the strip heaters and at higher Reynolds numbers.

Local Heat Transfer Coefficient of Flow Boiling in Microchannels With Artificial Reentrant Cavities

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chih-Jung Kuo ◽  
Yoav Peles
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Heat Transfer Coefficient ◽  
Transfer Coefficient ◽  
Flow Boiling ◽  
Local Heat Transfer ◽  
Local Heat ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Transfer Coefficients ◽  
Bubble Generation ◽  
Parallel Microchannels

Flow boiling in parallel microchannels with structured reentrant cavities was experimental studied. Flow patterns, boiling inceptions and heat transfer coefficients were obtained and studied for G = 83 kg/m2-s to G = 303 kg/m2-s and heat fluxes up to 643 W/cm2. The heat transfer coefficient-mass velocity and quality relations had been analyzed to identify boiling mechanism. Comparisons of the performance of the enhanced and plain-wall microchannels had also been made. The microchannels with reentrant cavities were shown to promote nucleation of bubbles and to support significantly better reproducibility and uniformity of bubble generation.

Numerical Investigation on the Effect of Transversal Septa on Forced Convection in Circular Tubes

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Manca ◽  
S. Nardini ◽  
D. Ricci
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Numerical Investigation ◽  
Forced Convection ◽  
Reynolds Numbers ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Transfer Coefficients ◽  
Pressure Drops ◽  
Circular Tubes ◽  
Heat Transfer Coefficients ◽  
High Heat Transfer

Conventional sources of energy have been depleting at an alarming rate, which makes future sustainable development of energy use very difficult. Thus, heat transfer enhancement technology plays an important role and it has been widely applied to many applications as in refrigeration, automotive, process industry, solar energy heater, etc. Convective heat transfer can be enhanced passively by changing flow geometry, boundary conditions or by increasing thermal conductivity of the fluid. Another possibility for increasing heat transfer with gas is to employ extended surfaces. In this paper a numerical investigation is carried out on forced convection in circular tubes with septa heated by constant fluxes and characterized by different shapes. When gas flows in a tube, septa with one or more openings can be used as fins. Furthermore, when the openings are arranged to give a spiral motion around the cylinder axis wall-fluid contact area increases. As a consequence the presence of the septa may significantly augment pressure drops. The fluid is air and properties are function of temperature. Septa of the same material of the tube are introduced and several shapes and arrangements are analyzed as well as different Reynolds numbers, baffle spacings and heat fluxes applied on the external surface. The investigation is accomplished by means of the commercial code Fluent. A k-e turbulence model is used with enhanced wall treatment options. Results are presented in terms of temperature and velocity fields, local and average heat transfer coefficients, friction factors and pressure drops for different values of heat flux, Reynolds numbers and baffle spacings. The aim of this study is to find the shape and arrangement of septa such to give high heat transfer coefficients and low pressure drops.

Perspiration Nano-Patch for Hot Spot Thermal Management

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shankar Narayanan ◽  
Andrei G. Fedorov ◽  
Yogendra K. Joshi
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Thermal Management ◽  
Hot Spot ◽  
Evaporative Cooling ◽  
Heat Removal ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Conceptual System ◽  
Sweeping Gas ◽  
Phase Change Heat Transfer ◽  
Latent Heat Of Vaporization

A novel cooling scheme utilizing evaporative cooling for an ultra-thin, spatially confined liquid film is described for meeting the challenge of hot spot thermal management aiming at locally removing heat fluxes in excess of 200 W/cm2. This work presents the conceptual system design and results of performance calculations supporting the feasibility of the proposed cooling scheme. The phase change heat transfer is one of the most efficient means of heat transfer due to an advantage offered by the significant latent heat of vaporization of liquids. Fundamentally, evaporation could be a much more efficient method of heat removal as compared to boiling if certain conditions are met. Theoretically, we demonstrate that if a stable monolayer of liquid can be maintained on the surface and fully dry sweeping gas (e.g., air) is blown at high velocity above this liquid monolayer one can dissipate heat fluxes of the order of several hundreds of Watts per cm2. We also show that a more volatile FC-72 can outperform water in evaporative cooling using stable liquid microfilms.

Impact of Screens Around Bearings on the Flow and Heat Transfer in the Vent and Scavenge Oil Pipes in Bearing Chambers

2010 ◽  
Vol 133 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Flouros ◽  
Francois Cottier
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Hot Spots ◽  
Thermal Effects ◽  
Oil Quality ◽  
Flow Distribution ◽  
Cfd Analysis ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Flow And Heat Transfer ◽  
Ansys Cfx ◽  
Oil Flow

The aim of this paper is to investigate, first, the effects of screens introduced around bearings and, second, the use of protruded instead of flush installed vent pipes. The investigation focuses on the air and oil flow distributions and on the heat transfer in the scavenge and the vent pipes in an aeroengine bearing chamber. The flow distribution has an impact on the pipe’s wall temperature distribution with the likelihood of generating hot spots. High temperatures may cause substantial effects on the health of the lubrication system. Problems may range from oil quality degradation to oil self ignition. A steady state CFD analysis of the heat transfer involving the two-phase air and oil flow in these pipes is performed using the ANSYS CFX package. It was demonstrated that whereas screens around bearings reduce the parasitic losses and vent protrusion reduces the oil flow to the air/oil separator, however, due to the oil flow distribution the thermal effects may lead to high material temperatures and to malfunctions in the engine’s lube system.

Effect of Non Uniform Flow Distribution on Single Phase Heat Transfer in Parallel Microchannels

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akhilesh V. Bapat ◽  
Satish G. Kandlikar
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Friction Factor ◽  
Single Phase ◽  
Flow Distribution ◽  
Uniform Flow ◽  
Hydrodynamic Performance ◽  
Flow Area ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Uniform Flow Distribution ◽  
Parallel Microchannels

The continuum assumption has been widely accepted for single phase liquid flows in microchannels. There are however a number of publications which indicate considerable deviation in thermal and hydrodynamic performance during laminar flow in microchannels. In the present work, experiments have been performed on six parallel microchannels with varying cross-sectional dimensions. A careful assessment of friction factor and heat transfer in is carried out by properly accounting for flow area variations and the accompanying non-uniform flow distribution in individual channels. These factors seem to be responsible for the discrepancy in predicting friction factor and heat transfer using conventional theory.

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