Numerical Investigation on Enhanced Thermal Performance of Rectangular Microchannels with Triangular Ribs

Abstract

Effective thermal management becomes crucial with the rising heat produced by electronic devices. Microchannel convection shows excellent potential as a cooling solution. This study employs numerical computational techniques to examine rectangular microchannels’ flow and heat transfer parameters on a semi-octagonal structure, specifically focusing on the Reynolds number (Re) ranging from 100 to 500. An extensive analysis evaluates the heat transfer design and hydraulic performance. Furthermore, the microchannel's diodic performance is assessed by comparing the Nusselt number (Nu) and the pressure drop in both the forward and backward directions. The study demonstrates the excellent performance of the microchannels within the microstructure under low Reynolds number (Re) conditions. Emphasizing the significance of preserving the fundamental geometric characteristics while improving the fluid dynamics within the microchannel. The semi-octagonal structure microchannel design surpasses the conventional design in bidirectional heat transfer by improving spatial fluid mixing. With a Reynolds number of 300, the Nusselt number of this microchannel surpasses that of the traditional rectangular design by a considerable margin. In addition, at this Reynolds number, the thermal diodicity (Di_t) and pressure drop diodicity (Di_p) showed significant improvements, with values of 1.16 and 1.45, respectively. Therefore, this study comprehensively compares the enhanced heat transfer of microchannel walls under constant heat flux, highlighting the advantages of semi-octagonal structural design in improving heat transfer and hydraulic performance. The results show that this innovative design has great potential to improve the efficiency of microchannel cooling and provides an important reference for the development of efficient thermal management systems.

Received: 30 July 2024 | Revised: 9 September 2024 | Accepted: 20 September 2024

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to this work.

Data Availability Statement

Data available on request from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Author Contribution Statement

Md Nadimul Akram: Conceptualization, Software, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing - original draft; Kazi Mohiuddin: Methodology, Writing - review & editing, Visualization; Md Al Shahriar Akash: Resources, Data curation; Felix Ibeh: Validation, Formal analysis; Md Shohel Kibria: Supervision, Project administration.