Numerical study and performance analyses of counter flow minichannel heat sink with slots on ribs

Various minichannel heat sinks are developed to cope with the increasing demand for thermal dissipation of electronic equipment. However, with the rapid development of microelectronics technology, temperature uniformity has gradually become a thorny problem needing more attention. Counter flow minichannel heat sinks with slots on ribs (CSF) were designed to enhance heat transfer and improve temperature uniformity. A 3D conjugated heat transfer model was developed in laminar flow regime, water has been selected as the working fluid, the constant heat flux was applied on the bottom surface of minichannel heat sinks. The counter flow minichannel heat sinks with slots on ribs not only possess higher heat transfer capacity, but also have better temperature uniformity. The average Nusselt number maximum increases to 2.01 times and the maximum temperature of bottom surface reduces 14.6 K for counter flow minichannel heat sink with five slots on ribs (CSF5) compared with parallel flow minichannel heat sink at Reynolds numberRe = 904. The temperature standard deviation of bottom surface maximum reduces 4.3 K for CSF3 minichannel heat sink atRe = 904. The effect mechanism of setting slots on ribs on the performance of counter flow minichannel heat sink was analyzed, it can be attributed to (i) interrupting and re-developing thermal boundary layer, and (ii) heat transfer between adjacent channels in which working fluid flows in opposite directions. Due to more uniform temperature of bottom surface and better heat transfer performance, the novel minichannel heat sink has potential application for thermal dissipation of electronic equipment.