Review of bionic study on enhanced microchannel heat transfer by passive methods

Microchannel heat sinking (MCHS) is one of the important heat sinks used in microelectronics. Compared with active cooling technology, passive enhanced heat transfer technology that redesigns the flow channels and arranges enhanced structures does not require external energy consumption and has higher reliability. This paper presents a systematic review of bionic studies of passively enhanced heat transfer in MCHS. Two types of bionic design paradigms are highlighted through a systematic review of heat transfer optimization strategies embedded in nature: One of them is the bionic fluid channel design, such as tree, lung trachea, leaf veins, honeycomb, and so on. The second is the design of enhanced structures inspired by biological features, such as fish scales, shark skin, bird wings, etc. A comparison of the enhancement effects and improvement mechanisms of these bionic solutions over conventional microchannels in terms of heat transfer performance and hydrodynamic efficiency is highlighted. In addition, the advantages and limitations of bionic design are critically assessed, and the challenges faced by bionic MCHS in terms of fabrication feasibility and system reliability are discussed. Based on the existing research progress, unique insights from structural design and multi-objective parameter co-optimization are finally presented, providing an important reference for researchers and engineers in this field.