Numerical and Experimental Investigation of Minichannel Heat Sinks with Supercritical Working Fluids

Abstract

The rapid advancement of high performance tiny electronic devices has been sparked by the growing dependence of modern human life on digitization and artificial intelligence. To ensure dependable performance during the full designated operating regime as well as a satisfactory life term, designers now face the additional problem of thermal management due to the sharp increase in the power density requirements for such equipment. Heat generation is an irreversible process, and it must be removed for components to function continuously. Since the temperature rise in the circuits is the primary cause of component failures, the thermal energy generated during operation needs to be effectively reduced for the components to operate continuously. As a result, a significant amount of study has been focused on the evaluation of alternative working fluids as well as the creation and augmentation of effective cooling strategies over the past ten years. The high area-to-volume ratio of a miniaturised or mini-channel heat sink (MCHS) and the favourable thermophysical properties of the medium have been identified as two factors that make this option particularly enticing.