Flow Behavior and Temperature Distribution in Micro-Channels for Constant Wall Heat Flux

An efficient micro-channel heat exchanger was designed which can be used for heat removal from components requiring micro level heat extraction. The heat exchanger is composed of 21 channels and each channel dimensions are 13 x 0.35 x 0.5 mm3. The channel walls were at no slip and constant heat flux conditions. Different gaseous fluids were considered for the best performance. Hydrogen gave most uniform flow distributions among the channels. The heat exchanger was designed and simulated numerically using the non symmetric pattern multi frontal finite element method for predicting the flow behavior. Four different geometries were proposed and simulated in 2D to find the best geometry in terms of flow distribution. The best geometry was investigated in both 2D and 3D for temperature distributions among the channels. Simulations demonstrated that the effectiveness of the micro-heat exchanger varies with pressure difference, inlet geometry and wall heat flux.