A Critical Review on Geometric Improvements for Heat Transfer Augmentation of Microchannels

Abstract

With the application of microdevices in the building engineering, aerospace industry, electronic devices, nuclear energy, and so on, the dissipation of high heat flux has become an urgent problem to be solved. Microchannel heat sinks have become an effective means of thermal management for microdevices and enhancements for equipment due to their higher heat transfer and small scale. However, because of the increasing requirements of microdevices for thermal load and temperature control and energy savings, high efficiency heat exchangers, especially microchannels are receiving more and more attention. To further improve the performance of microchannels, optimizing the channel geometry has become a very important passive technology to effectively enhance the heat transfer of the microchannel heat sink. Therefore, in this paper, the microchannel geometry characteristics of previous studies are reviewed, classified and summarized. The review is mainly focused on microchannel geometry features and structural design to strengthen the effect of heat transfer and pressure drop. In addition, the correlation between boiling heat transfer and geometric characteristics of microchannel flow is also presented, and the future research direction of microchannel geometry design is discussed.

Weakening of Ledinegg Instability and Maldistribution of Boiling Flow in Parallel Microchannels by Entry Effects

“…5c Ref. [24] ∆p N x*: 200 0.2 1 5 W/cm 2 W: 0~4 mg/s 353.15 1 Reference data are conducted over a single channel except for Ref. [35] (two parallel channels).…”

“…Rapid technological advancements in fields such as integrated circuits, nuclear reactors, and medical instruments necessitate more efficient cooling techniques [1]. Researchers are seeking solutions to address the challenges of heat dissipation in miniaturized electronic devices, where heat flux varies from 100 to 1000 W/cm 2 .…”

Potential of 3D Printing for Heat Exchanger Heat Transfer Optimization—Sustainability Perspective

“…There is a growing demand for advanced heat exchangers that meet the specific needs of various industries. HXs are widely used in the aerospace industry [142,143], the food industry [144], turbine technology [145], chemical processing plants [143], electronic equipment [143,[145][146][147][148], nuclear power plants [149], solar energy receivers [149], waste heat recovery systems [74,150], building air conditioning [151], heat pipes [64,152,153], and so on. The application of heat exchangers thus ranges from miniature electronic microcircuits to large buildings [34,74].…”

Numerical Simulation of Flow and Heat Transfer Characteristics in Non-Closed Ring-Shaped Micro-Pin-Fin Arrays

“…Advances in nuclear reactors, high-performance computers and optoelectronic devices towards high power density and compactness has posed a great challenge to efficient heat transfer and heat dissipation [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. Micro-pin-fin heat sinks, characterized by enhanced flow mixing and expanded heat transfer area, have become an attractive solution to the problem [8][9][10].…”