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This study aims to examine the effect of a combination of hybrid pin-fin patterns on a heat sink's performance using numerical techniques. Also, flow characteristics have been studied, such as secondary flow formation and flow-wall interaction.

In this study, the effect of hybrid arrangements of elliptical and hexagonal pin-fins with different distribution percentages on flow characteristics and performance evaluation criteria in laminar flow was investigated. Ansys-Fluent software solves the governing equations using the finite volume method. Also, the accuracy of obtained results was compared with the experimental results of other similar papers.

The results of this study highlighted that hybrid arrangements show higher overall performance than single pin-fin patterns. Among the hybrid arrangements, case 3 has the highest values of performance evaluation criteria, that is, 1.84 in Re = 900. The results revealed that, with the instantaneous change in the pattern from elliptic to hexagonal, the secondary flow increases in the cross-sectional area of the channels, and the maximum velocity in the cross-section of the channel increases. The important advantages of case 3 are its highest overall performance and a lower chip surface temperature of up to about 2% than other hybrid patterns.

Prior research has shown that in the single pin-fin pattern, the cooling power at the end of the heat sink decreases with increasing fluid temperature. Also, a review of previous studies showed that existing papers had not investigated hybrid pin-fin patterns by considering the effect of changing distribution percentages on overall performance, which is the aim of this paper.

This numerical study aims to investigate the modification of the hexagonal pin fin geometry to enhance both the thermal and hydraulic performance of the copper micropin fin heat sink with single-phase water coolant in a laminar regime. The heat sink performance evaluation criteria have been investigated for the parametric effects of vertex angle θ (10–120) and relative length (RL) (0.25–9) of hexagonal pin fins.

To carry out research and reduce the computational cost, only one heat sink unit is simulated and analyzed using periodic boundary conditions on the side walls and includes a hexagonal pin fin and half channel on both sides to reflect the structural characteristics completely. The governing equations are also solved using finite volume method.

The results reveal that θ = 60 and RL = 1 yield the optimum thermal performance and heat sink performance is significantly influenced by the vertex angle and RL. The modified hexagon geometry improves fluid flow behavior by reducing the volume of the recirculation region behind the pin fin, preventing its effects on the downstream pin fins and restricting the thermal boundary layer development on its straight side. At Re = 1,000, the modified geometry enhances the average Nusselt number by 24.46% and the thermal performance factor by 23.89%, demonstrating the potential of modified hexagonal pin fins to enhance micropin fin heat sink performance.

Prior studies suggest using the pin fins with a regular hexagonal cross-section to obtain better thermal performance. However, this comes with a higher pressure drop penalty. The modification of the hexagonal pin fin geometry has been investigated in this numerical study to enhance both the thermal and hydraulic performance of the micropin fin heat sink. Because little attention has been paid to the modification of the regular hexagonal pin fins, as a geometry inspired by natural honeycomb structures, its design optimization is relatively scarce, and a gap was felt in this field.

The purpose of this paper is to present a porous medium model for forced air convection in pin/plate‐fin heat sinks subjected to non‐uniform heating of a hot gas impinging jet. Parametric studies are performed to provide comparisons between inline square pin‐fin and plate‐fin heat sinks in terms of overall and local thermal performance for a fixed pressure drop.

Heat conduction in substrates is coupled with forced convection in the pin/plate‐fin flow channel. The forced convection is considered by employing the non‐Darcy model for fluid flow and the thermal non‐equilibrium model for heat transfer. A series of experiments is performed to validate the model for both the pin‐fin and plate‐fin heat sinks.

The present porous medium model is capable of capturing the presence of lateral heat spreading in the plate‐fins and the absence of lateral heat spreading in the pin‐fins under non‐uniform thermal boundary condition, attributing to the adoption of the orthotropic effective thermal conductivity for the solid phase in the energy equation. The present results show that the inline square pin‐fin heat sink has topological advantage over the plate‐fin heat sink, although the heat spreading through the plate‐fins on reducing the peak temperature on the substrate is pronounced.

This paper reports an original research on theoretical modeling of forced convection in pin/plate‐fin heat sinks subjected to the non‐uniform heating of an impinging jet.

This paper aims to present an elegant exact solution in terms of elementary functions for a special pin fin without the classical length-of-arc approximation.

The temperature distribution along the fin and the surface function, both being the functions of a shape parameter, is inversely proportional to each other. The specialty of the spine is such that its shape and temperature profile are linked for a given Biot number.

Exact formulas for the pin fin tip temperature, pin fin base heat transfer rate, surface area of the spine and thermal fin efficiency are also given.

Without the traditional arc length assumption, the pin fin is shown to be an effective extended surface to remove the excessive heat from the hot surface it is pinned to. Optimum pin fin dimensions leading to the maximum base heat transfer rate are also worked out for a specified fin volume.

With development of the modern electronic and mechanical devices, cooling requirement has become a serious challenge. Innovative heat transfer enhancement methods are generally accompanied by undesirable increase of pressure drop and consequently a pumping power penalty. The current study aims to present a novel and easy method to manufacture a mini heat sink using porous fins and magnetite nanofluid (Fe₃O₄/water) as the coolant for simultaneous heat transfer enhancement and pressure drop reduction.

A three-dimensional numerical study is carried out to evaluate the thermal and hydrodynamic performance of the mini heat sink at different volume fractions, porosities and Reynolds numbers, using finite volume method. The solver specifications for discretization of the domain involve the SIMPLE, second-order upwind and second order for pressure, momentum and energy, respectively.

Results show that porous fins have a favorable effect on both heat transfer and pressure drop compared to solid fins. Creation of a virtual velocity slip on the channel-fin interfaces similar to the micro scale conditions and the flow permeation into the porous fins are the main mechanisms of pressure drop reduction. On the other hand, the heat transfer enhancement is attributed to the increase of the solid-fluid contact area and the improvement of the flow mixing because of the flow permeation into the porous fins. An optimal porosity for maximum convective heat transfer enhancement is obtained as a function of Reynolds number. However, taking both pressure drop and heat transfer effects into account, the overall heat sink performance is shown to be improved at high of Reynolds numbers, volume fractions and fin porosities.

Thermal radiation and gravity effects are ignored, and thermal equilibrium is assumed between solid and fluid phases.

A maximum of 32 per cent increase of convective heat transfer is achieved along with a maximum of 33 per cent reduction in the pressure drop using porous fins and ferrofluid in heat sink.

This study aims to minimize the pressure drop across wavy microchannels using secondary branches without compromising its capacity to transfer the heat. The impact of secondary flows on the pressure drop and heat transfer capabilities at different Reynolds numbers are investigated numerically for different wavy microchannels. Finally, different channels are evaluated using performance evaluation criteria to determine their effectiveness.

To investigate the flow and heat transfer capabilities in wavy microchannels having secondary branches, a 3D conjugate heat transfer model based on finite volume method is used. In conventional wavy microchannel, secondary branches are introduced at crest and trough locations. For the numerical simulation, a single symmetrical channel is used to minimize computational time and resources and the flow within the channels remains single-phase and laminar.

The findings indicate that the suggested secondary channels notably improve heat transfer and decrease pressure drop within the channels. At lower flow rates, the secondary channels demonstrate superior performance in terms of heat transfer. However, the performance declines as the flow rate increased. With the same amplitude and wavelength, the introduction of secondary channels reduces the pressure drop compared with conventional wavy channels. Due to the presence of secondary channels, the flow splits from the main channel, and part of the core flow gets diverted into the secondary channel as the flow takes the path of minimum resistance. Due to this flow split, the core velocity is reduced. An increase in flow area helps in reducing pressure drop.

Many complex and intricate microchannels are proposed by the researchers to augment heat dissipation. There are challenges in the fabrication of microchannels, such as surface finish and achieving the required dimensions. However, due to the recent developments in metal additive manufacturing and microfabrication techniques, the complex shapes proposed in this paper are feasible to fabricate.

Wavy channels are widely used in heat transfer and micro-fluidics applications. The proposed wavy microchannels with secondary channels are different when compared to conventional wavy channels and can be used practically to solve thermal challenges. They help achieve a lower pressure drop in wavy microchannels without compromising heat transfer performance.

The purpose of this paper is to study the flow and heat transfer characteristics of microchannel heatsinks with ribs, cavities and secondary channels. The influence of length and width of the ribs on heat transfer enhancement, secondary flows, flow distribution and temperature distribution are examined at different Reynolds numbers. The effectiveness of each heatsink is evaluated using the performance factor.

A three-dimensional solid-fluid conjugate heat transfer numerical model is used to study the flow and heat transfer characteristics in microchannels. One symmetrical channel is adopted for the simulation to reduce the computational cost and time. Flow inside the channels is assumed to be single-phase and laminar. The governing equations are solved using finite volume method.

The numerical results are analyzed in terms of average Nusselt number ratio, average base temperature, friction factor ratio, pressure variation inside the channel, temperature distribution, velocity distribution inside the channel, mass flow rate distribution inside the secondary channels and performance factor of each microchannels. Results indicate that impact of rib width is higher in enhancing the heat transfer when compared with its length but with a penalty on the pressure drop. The combined effects of secondary channels, ribs and cavities helps to lower the temperature of the microchannel heat sink and enhances the heat transfer rate.

The fabrication of microchannels are complex, but recent advancements in the additive manufacturing techniques makes the fabrication of the design considered in this numerical study feasible.

The proposed microchannel heatsink can be used in practical applications to reduce the thermal resistance, and it augments the heat transfer rate when compared with the baseline design.

Information technology (IT) systems are already ubiquitous, and their future growth is expected to drive the global economy for the next several decades. However, energy consumption by these systems is growing rapidly, and their sustained growth requires curbing the energy consumption, and the associated heat removal requirements. Currently, 20-50 percent of the incoming electrical power is used to meet the cooling demands of IT facilities. Careful co-optimization of electrical power and thermal management is essential for reducing energy consumption requirements of IT equipment. Such modeling based co-optimization is complicated by the presence of several decades of spatial and temporal scales. The purpose of this paper is to review recent approaches for handling these challenges.

In this paper, the authors illustrate the challenges and possible modeling approaches by considering three examples. The multi-scale modeling of chip level transient heating using a combination of Progressive Zoom-in, and proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) is an effective approach for chip level electrical/thermal co-design for mitigation of reliability concerns, such as Joule heating driven electromigration. In the second example, the authors will illustrate the optimal microfluidic thermal management of hot spots, and large background heat fluxes associated with future high-performance microprocessors. In the third example, data center facility level energy usage reduction through a transient measurements based POD modeling framework will be illustrated.

Through modeling based electrical/thermal co-design, dramatic savings in energy usage for cooling are possible.

The multi-scale nature of the thermal modeling of IT systems is an important challenge. This paper reviews some of the approaches employed to meet this challenge.

Water/Al₂O₃ nanofluid with volume fractions of 0, 0.3 and 0.06 was investigated inside a rectangular microchannel. Jet injection of nanofluid was used to enhance the heat transfer under a homogeneous magnetic field with the strengths of Ha = 0, 20 and 40. Both slip velocity and no-slip boundary conditions were used.

The laminar flow was studied using Reynolds numbers of 1, 10 and 50. The results showed that in creep motion state, the constricted cross section caused by fluid jet is not observable and the rise of axial velocity level is only because of the presence of additional size of the microchannel. By increasing the strength of the magnetic field and because of the rise of the Lorentz force, the motion of fluid layers on each other becomes limited.

Because of the limitation of sudden changes of fluid in jet injection areas, the magnetic force compresses the fluid to the bottom wall, and this behavior limits the vertical velocity gradients. In the absence of a magnetic field and under the influence of the velocity boundary layer, the fluid motion has more variations. In creeping velocities of fluid, the presence or absence of the magnetic field does not have an essential effect on Nusselt number enhancement.

In lower velocities of fluid, the effect of the jet is not significant, and the thermal boundary layer affects the entire temperature field. In this case, for Hartmann numbers of 40 and 0, changing the Nusselt number on the heated wall is similar.

This paper aims to report the results of numerical analysis of turbulent fluid flow and forced-convection heat transfer in solar air channels with baffle-type attachments of various shapes. The effect of reconfiguring baffle geometry on the local and average heat transfer coefficients and pressure drop measurements in the whole domain investigated at constant surface temperature condition along the top and bottom channels’ walls is studied by comparing 15 forms of the baffle, which are simple (flat rectangular), triangular, trapezoidal, cascaded rectangular-triangular, diamond, arc, corrugated, +, S, V, double V (or W), Z, T, G and epsilon (or e)-shaped, with the Reynolds number changing from 12,000 to 32,000.

The baffled channel flow model is controlled by the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations, besides the k-epsilon (or k-e) turbulence model and the energy equation. The finite volume method, by means of commercial computational fluid dynamics software FLUENT is used in this research work.

Over the range investigated, the Z-shaped baffle gives a higher thermal enhancement factor than with simple, triangular, trapezoidal, cascaded rectangular-triangular, diamond, arc, corrugated, +, S, V, W, T, G and e-shaped baffles by about 3.569-20.809; 3.696-20.127; 3.916-20.498; 1.834-12.154; 1.758-12.107; 7.272-23.333; 6.509-22.965; 8.917-26.463; 8.257-23.759; 5.513-18.960; 8.331-27.016; 7.520-26.592; 6.452-24.324; and 0.637-17.139 per cent, respectively. Thus, the baffle of Z-geometry is considered as the best modern model of obstacles to significantly improve the dynamic and thermal performance of the turbulent airflow within the solar channel.

This analysis reports an interesting strategy to enhance thermal transfer in solar air channels by use of attachments with various shapes