Numerical studies on the hydraulic and thermal performances of trapezoidal microchannel heat sink

The present work numerically studies the hydraulic and thermal performances of trapezoidal microchannel heat sink (TMCHS) with rectangular cross-sectional shape under the constant total channel volume. Considering the flow direction, channel arrangement direction and inlet location, TMCHSs with six different configurations are proposed to compare their hydraulic and thermal performances. The results demonstrate that the pressure drop of the six THCHSs always increases with the decreasing small-to-large end width ratio. For the thermal performance, only the two TMCHSs with Parallel Channel Parallel Flow Large Inlet (PCPFLI) and Reverse Channel Counter Flow Large Inlet (RCCFLI) configurations have improved thermal performances with the decreasing small-to-large end width ratio, including decreasing maximum temperature, decreasing thermal resistance and decreasing center zone temperature difference. On the basis of these, the effects of the channel height and inlet flowrate on the thermal performances of TMCHSs with PCPFLI and PCPFLI configurations are further studied. It is found that PCPFLI and RCCFLI configurations have lower thermal resistance and more uniform temperature distribution with increasing channel height and inlet flowrate. The TMCHS with RCCFLI configuration has the best thermal performances among the six TMCHSs. The findings reported in present work provide a simple method to improve the thermal performances of MCHS by changing the channel shape and configurations.