Numerical Analysis of Different Arrangement of Square Pin-Fin Microchannel Heat Sink

Abstract

One of the ways for heat transfer augmentation in microchannel is using pin-fin. In the present numerical study, square cuboid pin-fins across the heat sink in the flow direction are arranged in different fashions, i.e., single row-wise stepped fins and four-row stepped fins. Furthermore, in each arrangement, there is variation in the positions of three pin-fin heights (0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 mm). Hence, total 12 cases were taken for comprehensive studies, where total volume occupied by all fins remains same so that the fluid flow area did not change. It is observed that single row stepped fin has performed better than the four-rows stepped fins for all Reynolds numbers and also fin arrangement (0.5-1.0-1.5) and (1.0-1.5-0.5) have been found to have highest thermal performance index among all the cases. It is concluded that fin height and location of the fin affect the thermal performance of the microchannel.