Numerical simulation of heat transfer for microelectronic heat sinks with different fin geometries in tandem and staggered arrangements

The heat transfer in heat sinks of microelectronic components has been numerically analyzed for different heat sink geometries in tandem and staggered arrangements. The present numerical study addresses cooling of fins with forced air convection in single micro channel heat sink using Ansys FLUENT software. Maximum heat transfer flux with minimum flow resistance was considered as the selection criteria for different heat sinks. Standard and staggered fins of uniform thickness are considered for all the heat sinks to analyze heat transfer performance. Quality factors corresponding to different geometries were calculated and compared with experimental and numerical results available in open literature. The present numerical results ensure the better performance of staggered heat sinks over standard ones. It has been noticed that staggered fins with conic section provide enhanced quality factors at flow Reynolds number range of 450-900 whereas staggered fins with rounded leading edges provide better thermal performances for Reynolds number beyond 900.