Effect of channel and plenum aspect ratios on the performance of microchannel heat sink under different flow arrangements

Microchannels based heat sinks are considered as potential thermal management solution for electronic devices. The overall thermal performance of a microchannel heat sink depends on the flow characteristics within microchannels as well as within the inlet and outlet plenum and these flow phenomena are influenced by channel aspect ratio, plenum aspect ratio and flow arrangements at the inlet and outlet plenums. In the present research work an experimental investigation has been carried out to understand how the heat transfer and pressure drop attributes vary with different plenum aspect ratio and channel aspect ratio under different flow arrangements. For this purpose microchannel test pieces with two channel aspect ratios, 4.72 and 7.57 and three plenum aspect ratios, 2.5, 3.0 and 3.75 have been tested under three flow arrangements, namely U-, S- and P-types. Test runs were performed by maintaining three constant heat inputs, 125 W, 225 W and 375 W in the range 224.3 ≤ Re ≤ 1121.7. Reduction in channel width (increase in aspect ratio, defined as depth to width of channel) in the present case has shown about 126 to 165% increase in Nusselt number, whereas increase in plenum length (reduction in plenum aspect ratio defined as width to length of plenum) has resulted in 18 to 26% increase in Nusselt number.