Comparative Study for Improving the Thermal and Fluid Flow Performance of Micro Channel Fin Geometries Using Numerical Simulation

There is a continuous quest for improving the performance of micro channels for handling the increased dissipation of heat from electronics circuits. The Oblique fin micro channels are attractive as they perform better than plate fin & pin fin configurations. There are scopes for further improvements in oblique fin micro channels. Hence this work is about the investigation for the performance enhancement by modifying the oblique fin geometry. Seven variants of micro channel geometries have been explored using three dimensional numerical simulations. The variants are plate fin, in-line pin fin, staggered pin fin, oblique fin, oblique fin with two slit angles, oblique with nozzle type slit and improved oblique fin. The simulation results are validated using the published data. To ensure a common reference for comparison, hydraulic diameter, inlet flow conditions, heat loads and the boundary conditions are kept identical across all the geometries. The results of simulation are compared for the thermal & fluid flow performances. Heat transfer correlations have been developed using the simulation data. The proposed modification is found to enhance the performance significantly.