Content area
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to develop an efficient thermal management system, which effectively dissipate the heat generated from the electronic devices. The present paper focuses at the modeling of microchannel heat sinks (MCHSs) with phase change materials (PCMs) insets to deal with the fluctuating heat generated from the electronic components.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, a novel approach is introduced to enhance the thermal performance of MCHSs through the integration of conjugate heat transfer and energy storage. Numerical investigations were conducted on six novel models of PCM-based hybrid MCHSs using ANSYS-FLUENT. The hydrothermal characteristics of six PCM-based hybrid MCHS models were analyzed and compared with an MCHS model without PCM.
Findings
The numerical model used for this study exhibited a good agreement with existing experimental and simulation results documented in the literature. The hybrid MCHS models developed in the present analysis showed superior thermal characteristics compared to MCHS without PCM. About 12% improvement in the thermal performance factor and a 7.3% reduction in thermal resistance were observed in the proposed MCHS models. A negligible influence of the PCM channel shape and aspect ratio (AR) was observed on the MCHS performance.
Research limitations/implications
As the present work is a numerical investigation, the computational time and computational cost requirements are the main implication for the research.
Practical implications
High pumping power requirement and expensive manufacturing methods of the microfluidic devices are the main practical implications. Leakage problem is also a challenge for development of these heat sinks.
Originality/value
The surge in the heat generated by electronic components is a limiting factor for the conventional MCHSs. To accommodate the surge, researchers have explored energy storage methods using PCM-based passive MCHS but these are effective only during the phase change process. To address this limitation, novel PCM-based hybrid MCHSs, which combine convective heat transfer with energy storage capabilities, have been modeled in the present work. There is an ample opportunity for further exploration of hybrid MCHSs with PCM.
Details
Resistance factors;
Nanoparticles;
Ratios;
Optimization techniques;
Aspect ratio;
Thermal resistance;
Numerical analysis;
Limiting factors;
Phase change materials;
Microfluidic devices;
Research & development--R&D;
Heat sinks;
Microchannels;
Friction;
Heat transfer;
Viscosity;
Numerical models;
Mathematical models;
Energy storage;
Sinkholes;
Convection;
Convective heat transfer;
Computational efficiency;
Electronic components;
Components;
Energy;
Computing costs;
Thermal management;
Thermal simulation;
Reynolds number;
Computer aided engineering--CAE;
Production methods;
Computing time
1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, NIT Andhra Pradesh, Tadepalligudem, India
2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, NIT Warangal, Warangal, India