Enhancement of convective heat transfer in an air-cooled heat exchanger using interdigitated impeller blades

The enhancement of convective heat transfer through a finned heat sink using interdigitated impeller blades is presented. The experimentally investigated heat sink is a subcomponent of an unconventional heat exchanger with an integrated fan, designed to meet the challenges of thermal management in compact electronic systems. The close integration of impeller blades with heat transfer surfaces results in a decreased thermal resistance per unit pumping power. The performance of the parallel plate air-cooled heat sink was experimentally characterized and empirically modeled in terms of nondimensional parameters. Dimensionless heat fluxes as high as 48 were measured, which was shown to be about twice the heat transfer rate of a traditional heat sink design using pressure-driven air flow at the same mass flow rate.