Experimental and numerical study on thermofluidic characteristics of microchannel heat sinks with various micro pin–fin arrays arrangement patterns

Targeting at improving the comprehensive performance of microchannel heat sink, microchannel heat sinks integrated with various arrangements of micro pin-fins arrays are proposed in this paper. The thermofluidic characteristics and heat transfer enhancement mechanism of different pin-fins arrangement patterns is investigated by experimental test and numerical simulations. It is found that the partially uniform/gradient stagger pin-fins arrangement patterns present largest pressure drop with moderate heat dissipation performance, while the patterns with overall pin-fins distribution demonstrate superior heat transfer performance than all partial pin-fins distribution modes. Thus, overall gradient stagger pin-fins arrangement with moderate pressure drop yields optimal heat transfer capacity, achieving 4.8 ∼ 6.1 times enhancement than smooth channel. Furthermore, the partially uniform/gradient stagger pin-fins arrangement patterns indicate best temperature uniformity and thermal resistance with 26.2 K and 47.6 % reduction than smooth channel at 80 ml/min, 100 W/cm², respectively. The temperature trend in the longitudinal direction shows peaks and troughs for arrangements with partial pin fins distribution, while patterns of gradient pin fins distribution exhibit wavy curves of temperature rise. Additionally, the performance evaluation plot is adopted to describe the comprehensive performance of heat sinks with different pin fins patterns. It is observed that the overall gradient stagger pin-fins arrangement shows optimal comprehensive performance among all patterns, achieving heat transfer enhancement ratio greater than 4 in contrast with smooth channel. Finally, the correlations of Nusselt number and apparent friction factor for patterns are established. This study provides feasible insights on the performance improvement of microscale liquid cooling technologies for thermal management of electronic devices.