Performance analysis of microchannel heat sink with secondary flows and flow disrupting pins

Flow disrupting square pins are used to divert fluid flow into the secondary channels for enhancing the performance of conventional microchannel heat sinks (MCHS). Performance of three designs, viz., conventional MCHS, MCHS with secondary channels (SC- MCHS), and disrupting pin with secondary channels in MCHS (PS-MCHS) is numerically analysed. In SC-MCHS the Nusselt number increases by 6% but pressure drop reduces by 15% compared to conventional MCHS due to pressure recovery in secondary channels. In PS-MCHS Nusselt number and pressure drop is found to increase by 29% and 33%, respectively compared to conventional MCHS. Presence of pins helps in diverting more flow into the secondary channels thereby, resulting in more heat removal. Enhancement in performance observed in PS-MCHS over conventional MCHS is 26% while the same for SC-MCHS is 10%. Enhancement in performance of PS-CHS over SC-MCHS is 14%. The streamline patterns provide valuable insights into the velocity and pressure changes occurring in the enhanced MCHS. The improvement in thermal performance of enhanced MCHS is significant considering the additional cost incurred.