Effect of thin obstacles heights on heat transfer and flow characteristics in microchannels

This paper presents a numerical analysis of the thermal-flow characteristics for a laminar flow inside a rectangular microchannel. The flow of water through channels with thin obstacles mounted on opposite walls was analyzed. The studies were con-ducted with a low Reynolds number (from 20 to 200). Different heights of rectangular obstacles were analyzed to see if geometrical factors influence fluid flow and heat exchange in the microchannel. Despite of the fact that the use of thin obstacles in the microchannels leads to an increase in the pressure drop, the increase in the height of the obstacles favors a significant intensification of heat exchange with the maximum thermal gain factor of 1.9 for the obstacle height coefficient h/H = 0.5, which could be acceptable for practical application.