Flow and thermal modeling and optimization of micro/mini-channel heat sink

This paper is dedicated to present a comprehensive comparison and discussion on the flow and thermal modeling of micro/mini-channel heat sink for better understanding and further sophistication of this technology. A general optimization process for the flow and thermal performance of micro/mini-channel heat sink is developed, for water cooling and liquid metal cooling both in micro scale and millimeter scale together. Numerical calculation is adopted in the optimization process and serves as baseline for the comparison of different correlations, while 1D thermal resistance model is used for thermal analysis. Appropriate correlations are recommended and optimal parameter selections and suggestions are provided for practical design. Liquid metal cooling and water cooling are compared in mini-channel heat sink, the former exhibits much superior flow and thermal performance. For water cooling, 1D model works well. While for liquid metal cooling, significant deviation exists between the model and the numerical results, and more experimental and analytical works are needed for the thermal design of this kind of coolant.