One-dimensional modeling of manifold microchannels (MMC) with plate-fins for prediction of thermal performance and flow non-uniformity

Abstract

A one-dimensional model has been developed to accurately predict the thermal performance and flow non-uniformity of the manifold microchannels (MMC) for embedded cooling. The model consists of one-dimensional governing equations derived from the integral relations of momentum and energy over appropriately-defined two separate control volumes. To validate the model, a series of 3-D numerical simulation is conducted over the wide ranges of the Reynolds number (Rem,in) at the manifold inlet from 560 to 3190, the dimensionless hydraulic flow length (x+) from 0.012 to 0.123, and the dimensionless thermal flow length (x*) from 0.002 to 0.023. It is shown that the model provides accurate predictions of the thermal performance and flow non-uniformity (CV) of MMC heat sinks within the root mean square percentage error (RMSPE) of 6% and 26% for 54 data points, respectively. The significant improvement of the prediction accuracy is made over the earlier model with an error reduction of 82%. Finally, a design guideline for the uniform flow distribution is suggested for the first time based on a newly proposed explicit correlation for predicting the flow non-uniformity:the dynamic pressure at the manifold inlet should be kept smaller than the pressure drop across the microchannels.

Hansol Lee

Researcher in KAIST

My research includes thermal managemet of electronics including wide-band gap semiconductors and 3D ICs via embeddedd liquid cooling, phase change phenomena, and advanced packaging.