Applied Thermal Engineering 219 (2023) 119440

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Applied Thermal Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

Research Paper

Entropy generation analysis on thermo-hydraulic characteristics of

microencapsulated phase change slurry in wavy microchannel with
porous fins
Hao Dai, Yingwen Liu *
Key Laboratory of Thermo-Fluid Science and Engineering of MOE, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710049, PR China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Recent advancement in micro/nano-scale electronic systems, the need for efficient heat dissipation has become
Microencapsulated phase change material more rigorous, and traditional thermal management solutions are facing enormous challenges. In this study, a
suspension novel combined design of wavy microchannel heat sink (MCHS) with porous fins and microencapsulated phase
Wavy microchannel heat sink
change material (MPCM) suspension is developed and numerically studied to achieve a balance between flow
Porous fin
and heat transfer behaviors. The equivalent heat capacity method is adopted to deal with the phase change
Thermo-hydraulic performance
Entropy generation process of microcapsule particles in steady and laminar states, and the Brinkman–Darcy–Forchheimer model
based on the volume-averaged method is employed to characterize the fluid flow in porous fins. A three-
dimensional solid–fluid conjugate model is established based on the finite-volume method to investigate the
effects of different coolant types (water and MPCM suspension), geometric parameters (wavy amplitude,
wavelength, and channel width ratio), and working conditions (inlet flow velocity, heat flux, and slurry con­
centration) on the thermo-hydraulic properties and entropy generation of wavy MCHS. The results reveal that the
combination of porous fins and MPCM suspension presents smaller temperature gradient and more uniform
temperature distribution than conventional design. Larger heat transfer coefficient and lower pressure drop can
be simultaneously obtained in wavy MCHS with porous fins than in solid fin configuration. The thermal entropy
generation is three orders of magnitude larger than the frictional entropy generation, and the Bejan number is
close to 1 for different microchannel configurations. Thermal entropy generation increases with increasing heat
flux but the frictional entropy generation decreases. Lower irreversible losses can be achieved at the expense of
greater pumping power consumption caused by increasing inlet velocity and suspension concentration. The
superior effect of wavy MCHS with porous fins using MPCM suspension as coolant has been observed in all cases.

from a theoretical basis [3]. Hence, effective thermal management is

1. Introduction
In today’s world of ever-increasing energy consumption, researchers
are focusing on issues related to topics such as renewable energy, low-
carbon economy, etc., making it imperative to develop renewable, sus­
tainable and green systems [1,2]. Meanwhile, microelectronic devices
and chips are developing in the direction of faster, smaller and more
powerful to meet the growing demand for high-performance, minia­
turized and highly integrated electronics. The dramatic increase in heat
generation may lead to device overheating as well as adversely affect
operational performance and reliability. In addition, graphene, with its
excellent physical and chemical properties, is used as a material for
many electronic devices, and has been investigated and implemented
critical to the normal and stable operations of micro devices and chips,
but the traditional cooling technologies cannot meet their requirements
[4–7]. To address the heat dissipation problem of electronic compo­
nents, many novel schemes have been reported, such as micro jet
impingement, micro heat pipe, and microchannel heat sink (MCHS).
Among the various developed micro-cooling technologies and methods,
MCHSs have been proven to be extremely effective in removing heat
loads from microelectronic devices, and have attracted much attention
because of their outstanding features such as compact structure, high
heat transfer coefficient and easy maintenance [8–13]. However, MCHS
with simple structure still has some defects, which brings great chal­
lenges to the heat dissipation needs of high heat fluxes.
Many improved structural designs and more complex microchannels

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: ywliu@xjtu.edu.cn (Y. Liu).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2022.119440
Received 22 May 2022; Received in revised form 30 August 2022; Accepted 3 October 2022
Available online 10 October 2022
1359-4311/© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
H. Dai and Y. Liu Applied Thermal Engineering 219 (2023) 119440

Nomenclature surface, K
Tw average wall temperature of the channel bottom surface, K
A wavy amplitude, m →
U velocity vector, m/s
Be Bejan number uin inlet velocity of the coolant, m/s
cm mass fraction, % u, v, w velocity components in the x,y and z directions, m/s
cv volume fraction, % V fluid volume, m3
CF Forchheimer coefficient Wc width of the microchannel, m
Cp specific heat capacity, J/(kg•K) Wf width of the vertical fin, m
hx local heat transfer coefficient, W/(m2•K) x, y, z Cartesian coordinates, m
hm average heat transfer coefficient, W/(m2•K)
Hc channel height, m Greek symbols
k thermal conductivity, W/(m•K) β channel width ratio
K permeability of the porous media (m2) ε porosity
LH latent heat of fusion, kJ/kg λ wavelength, m
Lx length of the heat sink, m ρ density, kg/m3
Ly height of the heat sink, m μ dynamic viscosity, kg/(m•s)
Lz width of the heat sink, m δN thickness of the bottom horizontal fin, m
P pressure, Pa δU thickness of the top horizontal fin, m
ΔP pressure drop, Pa
Subscripts
qw heat flux applied to the bottom wall of heat sink, W/m2
con coupling surface
Re Reynolds number
eff effective
S area, m2
f fluid
Ṡg,f frictional entropy generation rate, W/K
i component
Ṡg,h thermal entropy generation rate, W/K in inlet
Ṡg,t total entropy generation rate, W/K MPCM microencapsulated phase change material
Ṡg,f
’’’
frictional entropy generation rate per unit volume, W/ out outlet
(m3•K) p porous media
s solid
Ṡg,h thermal entropy generation rate per unit volume, W/
’’’
su MPCM suspension
(m3•K)
w water
T temperature, K
Tw local wall temperature along the centerline of heated

such as porous microchannels [14–17], wavy microchannels [18–21]
and double-layered microchannels [22–25] are used to improve the heat
transfer performance of heat sinks. Among these approaches, micro­
channels filled with porous materials rely on large surface contact areas
and strong local fluid mixing capabilities to enhance convective heat
transfer, and thus are considered as a promising alternative for high heat
density applications [26–29]. Moreover, the types of porous configura­
tions include sintered porous media [14], metal foams [27], nanorod
arrays [30] and micro pin fin arrays [31]. Hetsroni et al. [14] experi­
mentally examined the flow and heat transfer characteristics in a rect­
angular microchannel with sintered porous inserts of different porosity,
and observed that porous MCHS had good heat transfer performance but
significantly increased pumping power. A comparison of thermal­
–hydraulic properties of porous-MCHSs with six configuration designs
shows that the thermal performance of MCHS with porous arrangement
improves with increasing Reynolds number, and the comprehensive
performance of sandwich distribution design is better than that of other
porous structures [32]. Mancin et al. [33] experimentally studied the
heat transfer performance and pressure drop of copper foam samples
with different pore densities, and detected that the heat transfer coef­
ficient decreases with increasing pore density. Shen et al. [34] found
that different configurations and positions of metal foam in micro­
channel lead to different heat transfer properties, and that porosity had
less effect on thermal performance but more on pressure drop. The
greater aspect ratio configuration can achieve better overall perfor­
mance by optimizing the fluid velocity within the double-layer porous-
microchannel because of larger thermal resistance drop and less pres­
sure drop rise at lower flow rates [35].
It should be noted that the above methods of enhancing heat transfer
through porous media are all used for straight channels. Very poor fluid
mixing and thicker thermal boundary layers occur in straight channel
configurations because the coolant streamlines are almost parallel to the
channels, and the regular flow of coolant necessarily results in reduced
heat transfer along the flow direction [36,37]. Sui et al. [38] proposed a
channel design with wavy microchannels instead of straight micro­
channels, and they found that wavy design can improve the poor mixing
of coolant and its heat transfer performance was much better than that
of straight mode at the same cross-section. It was found in experiments
and simulations that the thermal resistance of wavy MCHS was reduced
due to the Dean vortices significantly enhancing the mixing between the
hot fluid at the bottom of channel and the cold fluid at the top of channel
[39,40]. Rostami et al. [41,42] numerically investigated wavy micro­
channels with short wavelengths and large amplitudes, and discovered
that each valley had a vortex to enhance heat transfer.
In order to effectively improve the heat dissipation performance of
high-power electronics, it is still a challenging task to achieve the
simultaneous reduction of thermal resistance and pressure drop. Nu­
merical results showed that the heat transfer performance of straight
microchannel with solid fins completely replaced by porous fins was
reduced, both the heat transfer enhancement and pressure drop reduc­
tion can be obtained in the porous/solid compound fin heat sink by
properly designing the porous fin thickness [43]. Wang et al. [44] found
that heat sink design with porous fins rather than solid fins reduced
thermal resistance by about 10% over a wide range of Reynolds numbers
compared to the original design with the same pumping power, and that
larger channel aspect ratios always produced lower thermal resistance.
Recently, a new design of wavy MCHS with porous fins was proposed,
which decreases both pressure drop and thermal resistance compared to
the conventional wavy MCHS with solid fins [45].
Besides the geometrical parameters and structural configuration of

2
H. Dai and Y. Liu
the channels, the thermal performance of MCHS is also related to the
thermophysical properties of the coolant. Due to the limited heat
removal capacity of single-phase fluid cooling, the novel technology of
heat transport enhancement is still required to meet the high and
extremely high heat flux requirements [46]. This has led to widespread
interest in enhanced heat transfer techniques for improving heat dissi­
pation performance by functional thermal fluids of mixing diverse
substances or different phases of matter (solid, liquid, or gas) [47]. The
solid–liquid two-phase fluid obtained by dispersing solid particles (e.g.
nano-scale metal/non-metal particles, MPCM particles, etc) into the
base fluid is the major attempt to enhance the heat transfer capability of
MCHSs [48–52]. As the microcapsule particles absorb/release large
amounts of heat through the melting/solidification of PCM in the shell,
the wall material of particles ensures its stability, and the MPCM slurry
has both large energy density and high heat transfer efficiency without
losing fluidity [53,54]. Using MPCM slurry as coolant for MCHS, it was
found that the heat transfer coefficient was increased by 30–50% and the
temperature distribution was more uniform compared to water [55].
Rao et al. [56] experimentally studied the convective heat transfer
characteristics of MPCM suspension in the laminar region of rectangular
copper minichannels, and found that the cooling performance of the
suspension was closely related to its mass flow rate and concentration.
Dai et al. [57,58] numerically studied the thermal–hydraulic properties
of porous-MCHS with MPCM suspension as coolant, and found that
suitable structural parameters and coolant should be selected according
to specific working conditions to avoid larger convection reduction and
flow resistance increment, so as to obtain better overall performance. A
3D conjugated heat transfer model of MCHS was constructed to inves­
tigate its thermal performance under various coolant types, coolant
configurations as well as operating conditions, and the effectiveness of
nanofluid and MPCM slurry in heat sink was evaluated [59]. In addition,
the entropy generation mechanism proposed by Bejan [60,61] was also
an evaluation index for analyzing the irreversibility of fluid flow and
heat transfer in the convective heat transfer process of heat sinks.
Therefore, the entropy generation/production was used in several
studies to investigate the thermodynamic characteristics of micro/mini-
channels to obtain more information about the quality of available en­
ergy [62–67].
Base on the above literature review, it can be seen that the flow and
heat transfer performance of MCHSs can be significantly enhanced uti­
lizing improved structural design and functional coolants. However, one
of the disadvantages of utilizing MPCM suspensions is that higher vis­
cosity than the base fluid increases the required pumping power,
resulting in a persistent tradeoff between the flow rate and cooling
performance for thermal management systems. Although several re­
searches are available to quantify the entropy production during
convective heat transfer in MCHS, there is little literature on the effect of
microchannels with MPCM suspension as coolant on entropy production
and flow regimes, especially for the wavy channel and porous fin de­
signs. In previous studies [57,58], the feasibility and effectiveness of
enhancing the overall performance of straight porous-wall MCHS by
using MPCM slurry as coolant was analyzed and evaluated. Since the
straight MCHS has difficulty reducing both thermal resistance and
pressure drop, the effectiveness of suspension cannot be fully exploited,
while the wavy MCHS with porous fins seems to mitigate this conflict
and further improves the overall performance of heat sink. Therefore,
we propose a novel combined design of wavy MCHS with porous fins
and MPCM suspension to achieve a balance between flow and heat
transfer performance in this work. A three-dimensional solid–fluid
conjugate model based on the Brinkman–Darcy–Forchheimer equation
is employed to investigate the effects of various coolant types, geometric
parameters, and operating conditions on the thermo-hydraulic charac­
teristics and entropy generation of combined design and compared with
the traditional solid fin MCHS to demonstrate the advantages of novel
combination. These results could provide useful guidance for the opti­
mization of configuration design and mechanism understanding of
3
Applied Thermal Engineering 219 (2023) 119440
performance enhancement in heat sink, and bring new perspectives for
enhanced heat transfer technique.
2. Model descriptions
2.1. Geometry of wavy MCHS with porous fins
The schematic of wavy MCHS with porous fins is shown in Fig. 1(a),
both porous material and substrate in heat sink are copper. The porosity
(ε), Forchheimer coefficient (CF) and permeability (K) are 0.6, 0.3 and 1
× 10− 10 m2, respectively, as referred to Ref. [44]. The uniform heat flux
applied to the bottom wall of heat sink by an electronic chip with a
packaging dimension of 12 mm × 12 mm is qw = 1000 kW/m2, in which
the heat is first transferred from the chip through the horizontal and
vertical fins to the heat sink and then dissipated by the coolant. There­
fore, the heat sink used has a size of 12 mm × 1 mm × 12 mm (Lx × Ly ×
Lz), which consists of 24 parallel microchannels separated by 25 vertical
fins. Due to the periodicity and symmetry between the microchannels,
the studies on wavy and straight MCHSs with porous/solid fins are
reduced to the computational domain of a single channel, as presented
in Fig. 1(b) and (c), respectively. The height and width of a single
microchannel are represented by Hc and Wc, respectively. The width of
the vertical fin is denoted by Wf, and the channel width ratio is defined
as β = Wf / (Wc + Wf). The thicknesses of the bottom and top horizontal
fins are δN and δU, respectively. As shown in Fig. 1(d), wavy micro­
channels in the present work are formed by wavy vertical fins parallel to
each other, and a wavy channel with constant wavelength λ and wavy
amplitude A composes of Lx / λ wavy units. It should be noted that the
thickness of a vertical fin consisting of two half-fins in the computational
domain of wavy MCHS is equivalent to that of straight MCHS. In addi­
tion, the wall amplitude of wavy microchannel is characterized by the
sinusoidal function as follows:
( )
2π
z = Asin x (1)
λ
2.2. Thermophysical properties of MPCM suspension
In this work, MPCM slurry as cooling medium flows through the
wavy MCHS with porous fins, as shown in Fig. 1. MPCM suspension is
formed using microencapsulated n-octadecane mixed with pure water,
and the shell material of the capsules is polymethylmethacrylate
(PMMA). PCM is considered pure material, so the effect of subcooling is
negligible [68]. The shear viscosity of MPCM suspension is independent
of shear rate within a certain scope of shear rates, which means that
phase change emulsion can be treated as Newtonian fluid [69]. The
volume average diameter of microcapsule particles is about 5 μm, and
the mass fraction of the suspension is between 5 ~ 20%, which ensures
that MPCM slurry is a Newtonian fluid [50]. The thermophysical pa­
rameters of MPCM suspensions with different mass fractions can be
derived from Ref. [70].
The microcapsule particles in MPCM suspension are considered to be
uniformly distributed and the particle sedimentation is ignored, the
density and specific heat of slurry can be denoted as [55,56]:
ρsu = (1 − cv )ρw + cv ρMPCM (2)
Cp,su = (1 − cm )Cp,w + cm Cp,MPCM (3)
The thermal conductivity of MPCM suspension is calculated using
the Maxwell’s relationship [25]:
2kw +kMPCM + 2cv (kMPCM − kw )
ksu = kw (4)
2kw + kMPCM − cv (kMPCM − kw )
The viscosity of MPCM slurry can be expressed by Vand equation
[70]:
H. Dai and Y. Liu Applied Thermal Engineering 219 (2023) 119440

Fig. 1. Schematics of (a) wavy MCHS with porous fins; (b) its representative unit (computational domain); (c) a computational domain of straight MCHS with solid
fins; (d) x–z cross section of computational domain for wavy MCHS with porous/solid fins.

μsu
= (1 − cv − 1.16c2v )
− 2.5
(5) (2) Brinkman–Darcy–Forchheimer model and local thermal equilib­
μw rium model (one-equation model) are employed to characterize
the fluid flow and heat transfer in the porous fins.
The equivalent heat capacity method is used to predict the phase
(3) The microcapsule particles in MPCM slurry are considered to be
transition process inside the capsule, thereby simplifying the specific
continuous, isotropic, and uniformly distributed, and the velocity
heat of MPCM as a function of temperature and can be expressed as [71]:
⎧ slip between the microcapsules and base fluid is negligible.
⎪
⎪ Cp,s if T < Tsolidus (4) The copper porous matrix is assumed to be rigid, homogenous,
⎪
⎪
⎨C + C LH isotropic, fully saturated with cooling fluid.
(6)
p,l p,s
Cp (T) =
⎪ 2
+
Tliquidus − Tsolidus
if Tsolidus ≤ T < Tliquidus (5) The gravitational force, viscous dissipation and radiation effects
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎩ are ignored for fluid flow in channels, and the contact thermal
Cp,l if T ≥ Tliquidus
resistance between the wavy heat sink and electronic chip is also
where, Tsolidus and Tliquidus are the highest and lowest temperatures of negligible.
PCM in solid and liquid phases, respectively. Cp,s and Cp,l are the specific (6) For the operating temperature ranges, the thermal physical
heat of PCM inside microcapsules at solid and liquid states, respectively. properties of fluid and solid are regarded as constant except the
specific heat of MPCM slurry.
2.3. Governing equations and boundary conditions
Based on these assumptions, the mass, momentum, energy and spe­
To solve the three-dimensional solid–fluid conjugate heat transfer cies conservation equations of the porous domain can be written as
problem and reveal the fluid flow and heat transfer regularity of MPCM follows [32]:
suspension within the wavy MCHS with porous/solid fins, following →
∇⋅U = 0 (7)
assumptions are made:
( )
ρf (→ )→ μf ρf CF ⃒⃒→⃒⃒ → μf →
(1) The flow is incompressible, steady and laminar. U ⋅∇ U = − ∇P − + √̅̅̅̅ ⃒ U ⃒ U + ∇2 U (8)
ε2 K K ε

4
H. Dai and Y. Liu Applied Thermal Engineering 219 (2023) 119440

( ))
→(
∇⋅ εcv,i U ρi Cp,i T + P
(
= ∇⋅ keff ∇T
)
(9) outlet, respectively.
In order to compare the irreversibility of fluid flow and heat transfer
( →) → in different configurations of MCHS with MPCM suspension as coolant,
∇⋅ cm,i ρi U = − ∇ J i (10) the effects of viscous and thermal dissipations on the volume entropy
→ generation rate are investigated. The thermal entropy generation rate
where ρf , U , P, and μf are the density, velocity vector, pressure, and (Ṡg,h ) due to heat transfer (thermal dissipations) and the frictional en­
dynamic viscosity of the fluid, respectively; keff is the effective thermal tropy generation rate (Ṡg,f ) due to fluid flow (viscous dissipations) can be
conductivity of porous fins, keff = ​ εkf + (1-ε)ks , in which f and s are calculated by [64,67]:
→
the indices of fluid and solid respectively; cv,i , cm,i , and j i represent the ∫∫∫
qw Scon
volume fraction, mass fraction, and diffusion flux of species i, (23)
’’’
Ṡg,h = Ṡg,h dV = (Tcon − Tf )
Tcon Tf
respectively.
The energy equation in the solid domain is as follows [45]: ∫∫∫
uin Hc Wc
(24)
’’’
Ṡg,f = Ṡg,f dV = ΔP
2
ks ∇ T = 0 (11) Tf

where ks is the thermal conductivity of the copper matrix in the solid
fin.
The relevant boundary conditions for the computational domain are
listed below.
For the inlet (x = 0):
u = uin , v = 0, w = 0, T = Tin , for the channel
u = 0, v = 0, w = 0, for the porous fins
For the outlet (x = Lx ):
P = 0, for the channel
P = ∞, for the porous fins
For the interfaces between the solid fins and channel:
u = v = w = 0, Ts = Tf , ks ∇Ts |n = kf ∇Tf |n
For the interfaces between the porous fins and channel:
up = uf , vp = vf , wp = wf , Tp = Tf , keff ∇Tp |n = kf ∇Tf |n
For the bottom wall:
qw = const
For the symmetric interfaces and adiabatic walls:
∇Ts |n = 0
In Eqs. (7)–(14), the subscript p means the porous fin; u, v, and w
denote the velocity components in the x-, y-, and z-directions, respec­
tively; uin means the fluid enters the channel with a constant velocity in
the range of 0.2 m/s to 1 m/s; n is the normal unit vector of the asso­
ciated surfaces; Tin represents the inlet temperature of the coolant,
which is specified as 293 K.
where V and Scon represent the volume of fluid domain and the area
of fluid–solid contact surface, respectively. Tcon and Tf are the area-
weighted average temperature of fluid–solid coupling surface and the
volume-weighted average temperature of coolant, respectively.
The total entropy generation rate (Ṡg,t ) is composed by summing the
values of thermal and frictional irreversibility, which can be expressed
(12)
as:
(13) Ṡg,t = Ṡg,h + Ṡg,f (25)
The dimensionless Bejan number (Be) is adopted to estimate the
(14) share of each irreversibility in entropy production, which is defined as
the ratio of heat entropy to total entropy production rate [63,66]:
(15)
Ṡg,h
Be = (26)
Ṡg,t
(16)
3. Results and discussion
(17) For this work, the concept of wavy MCHS with porous fins is pro­
posed for cooling high-performance electronic products, where the
porous material is copper, water and MPCM suspension are used as
(18) coolant. The effects of different coolant types (water and MPCM sus­
pension), geometric parameters (wavy amplitude, wavelength, and
channel width ratio), and working conditions (inlet flow velocity, heat
(19) flux, and slurry concentration) on the thermo-hydraulic performance
and entropy generation of wavy MCHS are studied in detail. The
geometrical parameters of wavy porous-MCHS and thermal properties of
working materials involved in this study are specified in Tables 1 and 2.
In general, the basic operating conditions are set as follows: A = 0.05
mm, λ = 0.6 mm, β = 0.4, cm = 10%, uin = 0.6 m/s, qw = 1000 kW/m2,
Tin = 293 K.

2.4. Methodology and data reduction

To evaluate the performance of designed MCHSs, the analysis pa­ Table 1

rameters are defined with the relevant expressions as follows. Geometrical parameters used for the wavy porous-MCHSs.
The local heat transfer coefficient (hx ) is defined by [9]:
Parameter Minimum Constant Maximum
qw value value value
hx = (20)
(Tw − Tin ) Heat sink length Lx (mm) − 12 −
Heat sink height Ly (mm) 1
The average heat transfer coefficient (hm ) is calculated by [16]:
− −
Heat sink width Lz (mm) − 12 −
qw Bottom rib thickness δN − 0.1 −
hm = (21) (mm)
(T w − Tin )
Top rib thickness δU (mm) − 0.1 −
The pressure drop (ΔP) in a single channel is determined by [23,57]: Channel height Hc (mm) − 0.8 −
Channel width Wc (mm) 0.05 − 0.35
ΔP = Pin − Pout (22) Fin width Wf (mm) 0.15 − 0.45
Wavy amplitude A (mm) 0 − 0.1
where Tw is local wall temperature along the centerline of heated Wavelength λ (mm) 0.4 − 1
surface; Tw is average wall temperature of the channel bottom surface; Porosity ε − 0.6 −
Permeability K (m2) 1 × 10-10
Pin and Pout are the pressures of fluid at the channel inlet and channel
− −

5
H. Dai and Y. Liu Applied Thermal Engineering 219 (2023) 119440

Table 2 3.2. Cooling medium effects

Thermal properties of heat sink fin material and MPCM suspension with
different mass fractions. Fig. 4 shows the calculated local heat transfer coefficient variation
Material ρ (kg/m3) Cp (J/kg•K) k (W/m•K) μ (kg/m•s) with the flow passage of MPCM slurry and water as coolant in the wavy
Porous copper 8978 381 387.6 −
MCHS with solid and porous fins. As we can see, the local heat transfer
0% Suspension (Water) 981.3 4189 0.643 0.598 × 10-3 coefficient in the inlet region is the largest and starts to decrease with
5% Suspension 974.9 4075 0.608 0.698 × 10-3 increasing flow distance until it reaches a constant value when the flow
10% Suspension 968.6 3960 0.5744 0.837 × 10-3 and temperature are fully developed. This is because the boundary layer
15% Suspension 962.3 3846 0.5426 1.04 × 10-3
effect causes the highest temperature gradient and greater heat transfer
20% Suspension 956.1 3731 0.5121 1.34 × 10-3
rate in the entrance area, where the local heat transfer coefficient is
inversely proportional to the thickness of boundary layer. In comparison
3.1. Model validation with wavy MCHS with solid fins, the larger local heat transfer coefficient
of both coolants occur in porous mode as the larger surface area of
In the present work, the aforementioned governing equations are copper matrix and thinner boundary layer. Moreover, the local heat
solved by the finite-volume method in ANSYS FLUENT 17.0 solver. transfer coefficient of MPCM suspension in porous-MCHS is higher than
Details of numerical solution procedure can be found in previous studies that of water, while the case of non-porous MCHS is opposite. This is
[35,57], and the convergence criterions for governing equations are set because the viscosity of MPCM suspension is higher than that of water,
to be less than 10-6. Before further analyzing the calculation results, the which weakens the dominant role of convective heat transfer in the non-
verification of grid independence is performed firstly to ensure the ef­ porous mode. However, the larger heat transfer area and disturbance in
ficiency and accuracy. The grid independence is evaluated by testing the the porous fins amplify the latent heat effect of MPCM particles, leading
changes of average heat transfer coefficient, hm, and pressure drop, ΔP, to the opposite difference of heat transfer coefficients between the two
in the straight microchannel with MPCM suspension as coolant at four coolants in different channel configurations. Compared with the con­
grid numbers (0.048 million, 0.109 million, 0.224 million and 0.75 ventional solid fin heat sink, the combination of porous fins and MPCM
million), as shown in Fig. 2. It can be seen that the relative deviations of suspension as the cooling medium can significantly improve the heat
hm and ΔP values of the 0.224 million grids are not higher than 0.87% transfer capacity of wavy MCHS.
and 1.64% compared to the results of the 0.75 million grids. It is clear
that grid number of 0.224 million has a reasonable precision compared 3.3. Geometric parameter effects
with other grid numbers. Consequently, the grid system of 0.224 million
is selected for the simulation model as a tradeoff between the numerical 3.3.1. The effects of wavy amplitude on thermal and hydraulic
accuracy and execution time. performances
To further check the accuracy and reliability of the numerical Various configurations of wavy MCHS with MPCM slurry as coolant
scheme, comparisons with existing experimental data were conducted to are designed by changing the wavy amplitude, wavelength and channel
investigate the pressure drop and wall temperature in the rectangular width ratio to further verify the feasibility of new design. The thermal
microchannels. Under the same geometry and operating conditions as and hydraulic performance of wavy MCHS with porous and solid fins
the experiments of Chen et al. [51], the maximum pressure drop devi­ evaluated by the average heat transfer coefficient (hm) and pressure drop
ation of non-porous straight MCHS at two suspension concentrations is (ΔP) versus wavy amplitude (A) are revealed in Fig. 5(a) and (b),
less than 7.87% over the range of tested Reynolds numbers, where the respectively. As shown in Fig. 5, it can be seen that both hm and ΔP in­
temperature error below 0.34% occurs along the flow path at Re = 213, crease with the increase of A, which is due to the larger copper surface
as shown in Fig. 3(a) and (b). The present numerical procedure is also area of vertical fins and more convective heat transfer between the
compared with the experimental tests of Hetsroni et al. [14] on two bottom wall surface and cooling medium. As the wavy amplitude of
kinds of sintered porous inserts with porosities of ε = 0.32 and ε = 0.44. microchannel increases from 0 to 0.075 mm, the average heat transfer
As depicted in Fig. 3(c), the maximum pressure drop discrepancy of coefficient of the wavy MCHS with solid and porous ribs rises signifi­
these two porous samples in the rectangular microchannel is within cantly due to the increase in heat transfer area and more fluid distur­
5.95%. The above prediction results are in good agreement with the bance, but the change in pressure drop does not obvious. However, as A
experimental data, which indicates the suitability and reliability of the increases from 0.075 mm to 0.1 mm, the rise amplitude of hm and ΔP
adopted model and numerical scheme in this paper. reduces and enlarges, respectively, and the effect of convection on heat
transfer enhancement is reduced in the presence of a significant increase
in flow resistance. For the solid fin heat sinks with wavy amplitudes in
the range of 0 ≤ A ≤ 0.04 mm and 0.075 mm ≤ A ≤ 0.1 mm, the larger
hm of wavy MCHS with MPCM suspension as coolant than that of water
can be observed under the same conditions, which is due to more phase
change of MPCM in slurry with less influence of viscosity. However, the
hm value for A = 0.04 to 0.075 mm is less than that of water, which is
related to the higher viscosity of MPCM suspension inhibiting phase
transition heat transfer and reducing convection. Compared with the
solid fin MCHS, the higher hm and lower ΔP appear in the wavy heat sink
with porous fins where the coolant is water and MPCM slurry, which is
associated with the larger heat transfer area enhancing convection and
the penetration of coolant into porous fins.
Figs. 6 and 7 demonstrate the temperature distributions and velocity
vector fields at the central x-z cross section in wavy MCHSs with
different wavy amplitudes of solid and porous fins as well as with MPCM
suspension as working fluid, which are related to the changes of hm and
Fig. 2. Variations of average heat transfer coefficient, hm, and pressure drop, ΔP, as revealed in Fig. 5(a) and (b). In comparison with the straight
ΔP, versus grid number in the straight microchannel with MPCM suspension MCHS (i.e., A = 0), the lower fluid and wall temperatures arise in wavy
as coolant. channel with the increase of A, which is due to the larger heat transfer

6
H. Dai and Y. Liu
Fig. 3. Numerical validation (a) pressure drop and (b) wall temperature in a straight microchannel with MPCM suspension according to Chen et al. [51], and (c)
pressure drop in a microchannel with two kinds of porous inserts according to Hetsroni et al. [14].
Fig. 4. Variations of local heat transfer coefficient of different coolants along
flow direction in wavy MCHS with solid and porous fins.
area and stronger fluid disturbance accelerating the convective heat
transfer rate, shown in Fig. 6. Unlike the conventional solid fin MCHS,
the combination of wavy MCHS with porous fins presents a smaller
temperature gradient in the z-direction and heat transfer is concentrated
in the direction of fluid flow (i.e., x direction), especially at A = 0.1 mm
where the temperature distribution is more uniform. It should be noted
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Applied Thermal Engineering 219 (2023) 119440
that the first quarter section of full length of wavy microchannel is
chosen as a reference to facilitate the observation of flow field inside the
heat sink and the analysis of inlet effect, as presented in Fig. 7. It is found
that the fluid velocity in the mainstream region (i.e., the channel cavity
through which the fluid flows) increases with the increase of wave
amplitude, and the wavy MCHS with solid fins has a greater mainstream
velocity than the porous mode under the same operating conditions.
Combining Fig. 5(b) and Fig. 7, it can be seen that the smaller flow
resistance and lower pressure drop occur in porous fin heat sink
compared with non-porous MCHS due to the fact that the coolant passes
through the porous fins and channel cavity with smaller seepage and
mainstream velocities, respectively. Under the action of deflection force,
when the coolant flows through the turning point of wavy microchannel,
the flow direction of MPCM slurry is contrary to that of the mainstream,
and the vortices of counterclockwise and clockwise are formed in the
wave peak and wave trough regions, respectively. Another significant
difference between the wavy heat sinks with porous fins and solid fins is
that the swirls appear inside the channel cavities of solid fin MCHS and
inside the porous ribs of porous fin MCHS respectively. Besides, lower
temperature and more uniform temperature distribution happen in the
porous mode due to larger specific surface area and stronger flow dis­
turbances promoting convective heat transfer. Compared with the wavy
MCHS, the flow state of the straight MCHS with porous fins is relatively
stable, in which the streamlines are basically parallel to the flow di­
rection of cooling fluid, and vortices appear on both sides of the channel
entrance due to the existence of dead zones. Therefore, the greater heat
transfer coefficient and lower pressure drop in MCHS with porous fins
can be obtained than those with solid fins, especially for wavy MCHS
H. Dai and Y. Liu Applied Thermal Engineering 219 (2023) 119440

Fig. 5. (a) Average heat transfer coefficient and (b) pressure drop of wavy MCHSs with porous and solid fins versus wavy amplitudes.

Fig. 6. Temperature distributions for MPCM slurry flow inside wavy MCHS with different wavy amplitudes of solid and porous fins at x-z middle cross-sections and
the unit of temperature is K.

with porous fins and MPCM suspension as coolant should be optimized
to achieve superior thermo-hydraulic properties.
3.3.2. The effects of wavelength on thermal and hydraulic performances
From Fig. 8, it can be found that as the wavelength, λ, decreases from
λ = 1 mm to λ = 0.4 mm, both hm and ΔP increase due to the larger
specific surface area of fins and more flow vortices enhancing convec­
tion. In solid fin MCHS with MPCM suspension as coolant, the lower
temperature rise of fluid appears at smaller wavelength (i.e., λ less than
0.7) due to larger heat transfer area and stronger fluid perturbation, in
which case convective heat transfer is the dominant factor and latent
heat effect can be neglected. However, the greater viscosity than water
makes the heat transfer coefficient of MPCM suspension smaller.
Furthermore, the larger fluid temperature rise in the solid fin MCHS with
larger wavelength (i.e., λ greater than 0.7) causes more PCM melting in
the capsule shell, making the heat transfer coefficient of suspension
larger than that of water, which is related to the enhancement of phase
change in suspension. In addition, the hm and ΔP of two coolants in wavy
MCHS with porous fins varies approximately linearly with λ, but their
variation patterns are slightly different in solid fin MCHS. More latent
heat storage and greater frictional resistance compared to water leads to
higher hm and ΔP in solid fin heat sink with MPCM suspension as coolant
although the decreasing of surface area as the wavelength increasing
from λ = 0.7 mm to λ = 1 mm, and the rise of hm difference appear in the
wavy MCHS with water and MPCM slurry passing through, respectively.
This is attributed to more phase transition of MPCM in suspension to

8
H. Dai and Y. Liu
Fig. 7. Velocity vector fields of the central x-z cross section in wavy MCHSs with different wavy amplitudes of solid and porous fins and the unit of velocity
magnitude is m/s (MPCM slurry as coolant and x = Lx / 4).
keep a larger temperature difference between the cooling medium and
solid wall, while their ΔP differences vary less. In the range of λ = 0.7
mm to λ = 0.4 mm, the rise amplitude of hm increases with decreasing
wavelength owing to larger surface area of copper matrix and more
secondary flow inside the channel cavity. Whereas, lower hm occurs in
solid fin MCHS with MPCM suspension as coolant compared to water,
because larger viscosity reduces the effectiveness of convective heat
transfer with the decrease of ΔP difference. In combination with the
previous analysis, it is clear that the wavy channel has a larger pressure
drop than the straight mode due to the need to overcome both viscous
friction and secondary flow. As the wavelength of MCHS with solid fins
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Applied Thermal Engineering 219 (2023) 119440
decreases from 0.6 to 0.4, the pressure drop caused by overcoming
secondary flow during fluid flow is the dominant factor, and the effect of
viscosity difference between the two coolants is insignificant. Therefore,
the rise amplitude of ΔP is greater for the solid fin configuration with
water as coolant in the small wavelength mode (i.e., λ = 0.4) compared
to the case of MPCM suspension.
3.3.3. The effects of channel width ratio on thermal and hydraulic
performances
To compare the hydro-thermal performance at different fin thick­
nesses, the width ratio β = Wf / (Wc + Wf) is defined here. The variations
H. Dai and Y. Liu
Fig. 8. (a) Average heat transfer coefficient and (b) pressure drop of wavy MCHSs with porous and solid fins versus wavelengths.
of average heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop versus channel
width ratios are presented in wavy MCHS with porous and solid fins as
well as using MPCM slurry and water as coolant, respectively, as shown
in Fig. 9(a) and (b). As shown in Fig. 9, the larger rise of hm and smaller
increase of ΔP happen in the solid fin and porous fin MCHSs with the
width ratio increasing from β = 0.3 to 0.5 due to larger surface contact
area and more coolant mixing. In addition, from β = 0.5 to 0.7, the
appearance of narrower flow channels and less flow rates in wavy
microchannels leads to smaller hm drop and ΔP rise in MCHS without
and with porous fins, which is related to the decrease in heat capacity
caused by the decrease in coolant mass flow rate and the increase in flow
resistance caused by the increase in the proportion of boundary layer
thickness. Whereas, as the width ratio rises from β = 0.7 to 0.9, ΔP in­
creases and decreases in the non-porous and porous fin MCHSs,
respectively, which is due to greater flow resistance in the solid fin
channels and less friction generated by the porous fin channels through
fluid seepage. Fig. 10 shows that the bottom wall temperature of heat
sink decreases as the width ratio increases from β = 0.3 to β = 0.5 due to
the larger specific surface area and stronger blending of coolant in
porous MCHS, which is related to the rise of hm in Fig. 9(a). And then as
the width ratio increases from β = 0.5 to β = 0.9, the overall temperature
of heat sink rises while hm decreases significantly because the heat at the
bottom cannot be removed in time by the less volumetric flow of
coolant. When β is less than and greater than 0.57, the average heat
transfer coefficient of solid fin MCHS with water as coolant is higher and
lower than that of slurry mode, respectively, which is associated with
Fig. 9. (a) Average heat transfer coefficient and (b) pressure drop of wavy MCHSs with porous and solid fins versus width ratios of fin-to-pitch.
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Applied Thermal Engineering 219 (2023) 119440
the influence of larger viscosity and more phase transition in suspension.
Figs. 11 and 12 show the velocity and pressure distributions on the
central x-z cross section in wavy MCHSs with different channel width
ratios of solid and porous fins as well as with MPCM slurry as coolant,
which are related to the variations of ΔP, as presented in Fig. 9(b). As β
increases from 0.3 to 0.5, the benefits of convective enhancement due to
the enlargement of specific surface area outweigh the convective losses
due to the decrease in coolant volume flow rate. And in this range of β,
obvious vortex-induced fluid disturbance and mixing can be observed.
Moreover, the lower temperature and its more uniform distribution
arises in heat sink with thicker solid/porous matrix attributing to more
convective heat transfer between the coolant fluid and wall of larger
copper matrix surface, as shown in Fig. 10. With further increase of β,
smaller hm and higher bottom temperature of wavy channel appear in
the corresponding microchannel configuration owing to the amount
reduction of vortices and coolant flow rate, and the generation of
vortices in porous fin MCHS is restricted to the inlet region. At smaller β
(i.e., β ≤ 0.7), the fluid near the wall first flows into porous region before
flowing into channel cavity, then infiltrates the porous fin before
entering the cavity again, and the cycle repeats. In addition, vortices are
formed at the inflection point of mainstream direction, resulting in an
increase of pressure drop in porous fin MCHS with the increase of β.
Furthermore, the pressure in porous fin and cavity area maintains good
consistency in the z-direction, and the pressure gradient occurs in the
flow direction of coolant fluid (i.e., x-direction), as shown in Fig. 12. At
β = 0.9, the fluid flow inside the porous MCHS presents good uniformity
H. Dai and Y. Liu
Fig. 10. Temperature contours for MPCM suspension flow inside wavy MCHS with different channel width ratios of solid and porous fins at x-y middle cross-sections
and the unit of temperature is K.
and stability, and the streamlines are almost parallel to the x-axis di­
rection. Besides, smaller hm and lower ΔP than β = 0.7 occur in the
porous fin mode with a width ratio of 0.9 due to the amount reduction of
volumetric flow rate and vortices. Thus, more fluid admixture and
disturbance are the main reasons for the increase of pressure drop in
wavy MCHS with porous fins at smaller β, while its reduction at larger β
is attributed to the stable and uniform flow caused by less flow rate and
vortexes.
3.4. Working condition effects
Since the transfer and conversion of heat in the heat sink is actually
irreversible, and this process is accompanied by a reduction in thermal
energy quality due to thermal and viscous dissipations. Therefore,
thermal entropy generation rate, frictional entropy generation rate and
total entropy generation rate are introduced to more accurately evaluate
the variations of entropy production of MPCM suspension in wavy
MCHS under different working conditions. In this section, the effects of
inlet flow velocity, heat flux applied to the bottom wall surface, and
mass concentration of MPCM suspension on thermal entropy generation,
frictional entropy generation, and total entropy generation are
discussed.
3.4.1. The effects of inlet flow velocity on entropy generation
Fig. 13 shows the variations of thermal entropy generation, frictional
entropy generation and total entropy generation with inlet velocity of
MPCM slurry as coolant in different MCHS configurations. It can be seen
that the straight MCHS with solid fins has the highest heat transfer en­
tropy while the wavy MCHS with porous fins has the lowest, which is
attributed to the influence of temperature difference between fluid and
heating surface, as shown in Fig. 13(a). According to the previous
analysis, it can be known that compared with the straight MCHS with
solid fins, the better heat transfer and smaller thermal entropy
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Applied Thermal Engineering 219 (2023) 119440
generation occurs in other three MCHS configurations due to larger heat
transfer area and thinner boundary layer caused by vortices. The fric­
tional entropy of straight MCHS with porous fins is the lowest, while the
frictional entropy of wavy MCHS with solid fins is the highest, which is
ascribed to the effect of irreversible heat loss due to frictional resistance
of fluid flow in the microchannel, as presented in Fig. 13(b). The higher
mainstream velocity of both coolants in the solid fin MCHS than in
porous mode results in higher velocity gradients near the walls, leading
to larger flow resistance and greater frictional entropy generation. From
Fig. 13(a) and (b), it can be found that with the inlet velocity of MPCM
suspension increasing from uin = 0.2 m/s to uin = 1 m/s, the heat transfer
entropy generation decreases due to the decrease of temperature dif­
ference between the cooling fluid and heating surface, while the friction
entropy generation increases due to the increase of frictional resistance.
The total entropy generation is defined as the sum of thermal and fric­
tional terms, and its variation trend is similar to the effect of inlet ve­
locity on thermal entropy generation in Fig. 13(a). The results of total
entropy generation evaluated by Eq. (25) are revealed in Fig. 13(c), it
can be seen that the total entropy generation decreases with increasing
inlet velocity, and the total entropy generation of wavy MCHS with
porous fins gradually decreases and tends to a constant value, which is
related to the decrease of thermal entropy generation. The Bejan number
(Be) represents the ratio of heat transfer entropy generation to total
entropy generation, and is used to evaluate the weighting effects of
thermal entropy, frictional entropy, and total entropy production.
Combining Fig. 13(a)-(c), it can be known that the variation of Be is
smaller in straight MCHS with solid and porous fins as the inlet velocity
of MPCM suspension increases, while the larger decrease of Bejan value
occurs in the wavy mode. Although greater frictional entropy appears in
wavy MCHS than in straight MCHS, the contribution of thermal entropy
in the total entropy production is much larger than frictional entropy,
thus making the total entropy production of wavy MCHS smaller than
that of straight configuration at the same operating conditions. The
H. Dai and Y. Liu
Fig. 11. Velocity vector fields of the central x-z cross section in wavy MCHSs with different channel width ratios of solid and porous fins and the unit of velocity
magnitude is m/s (MPCM slurry as coolant and x = Lx / 4).
above results indicate that the wavy MCHS can achieve lower irrevers­
ible energy loss by increasing the inlet flow velocity compared with
straight mode. Furthermore, the lower total entropy production of
porous fin MCHS than non-porous mode occurs at both wavy ampli­
tudes, which is attributed to the porous fin’s property of simultaneously
enhancing convective heat transfer and reducing frictional pressure
drop.
3.4.2. The effects of heat flux on entropy generation
Fig. 14 illustrates the influences of heat flux applied to the bottom
wall surface on heat transfer entropy production, frictional entropy
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Applied Thermal Engineering 219 (2023) 119440
production, and total entropy generation. As can be seen in Fig. 14(a),
the greater heat transfer entropy production and its larger rise amplitude
occur in the four channel configurations with the heat flux increasing
from qw = 400 ~ 1600 kW/m2 due to the faster increase in the tem­
perature of copper matrix surface with high thermal conductivity than
that of MPCM suspension, which is related to the insignificant effect of
latent heat of MPCM particles in suspension. With the gradual increment
of heat flux, almost all PCM inside the microcapsules melts into liquid
phase, so the suspension cannot carry more heat away from the solid
wall, and the excess heat is absorbed as sensible heat of suspension while
the latent heat is negligible, thus weakening the influence of convection
H. Dai and Y. Liu Applied Thermal Engineering 219 (2023) 119440

Fig. 12. Pressure distributions on the central x-z cross section in wavy MCHSs with different channel width ratios of solid and porous fins and the unit of pressure is
Pa (MPCM suspension as coolant).

Fig. 13. Variations of entropy generation rate with inlet velocity for different MCHS configurations for: (a) thermal entropy generation, (b) frictional entropy
generation and (c) total entropy generation.

13
H. Dai and Y. Liu
Fig. 14. Variations of entropy generation rate with heat flux for different MCHS configurations for: (a) thermal entropy generation, (b) frictional entropy generation
and (c) total entropy generation.
on heat transfer. On the contrary, the frictional entropy production
decreases slightly with the increase of heat flux, which is due to the less
effect of heat flux on pressure drop and the smaller temperature rise of
fluid. The total entropy generation shows a similar profile to the thermal
entropy generation because the contribution of convective heat transfer
dominates relative to the frictional pressure drop, as shown in Fig. 14(c).
In the comparison of total entropy production, it is found that the
straight MCHS with solid fins has the largest increase, followed by the
straight MCHS with porous fins and the wavy MCHS with solid fins, and
the wavy MCHS with porous fins has the smallest increase, which is
related to the synergistic enhancement of convection by the configura­
tion of porous fins and wavy channels. As can be seen from Fig. 14(a)-
(c), the Bejan number in the four microchannel configurations increases
with heat flux and tends to 1, because the contribution of thermal en­
tropy generation is much greater than that of frictional one. In addition,
the thermal entropy generation increases with the increase of heat flux,
but the frictional entropy generation decreases. In comparison with
straight configuration, the smaller Be appears in wavy mode, which is
associated with more convection and larger frictional resistance.
3.4.3. The effects of mass concentration on entropy generation
Fig. 15 illustrates the entropy generation rates including thermal
entropy generation, frictional entropy generation and total entropy
generation as a function of suspension concentration for different MCHS
configurations. According to Fig. 15(a), the thermal entropy generation
of straight MCHS with solid fins, straight MCHS with porous fins and
wavy MCHS with solid fins increases with increasing suspension mass
fraction due to the fact that the PCMs in microcapsules with these three
14
Applied Thermal Engineering 219 (2023) 119440
channel configurations basically all melts under larger heat fluxes. This
results in the average temperature of coolant at different mass fractions
exceeding the scope of latent heat effect of MPCM suspension, and its
greater viscosity than water weakening the flow disturbances. While the
heat transfer entropy generation of wavy MCHS with porous fins de­
creases with increasing suspension mass fraction due to larger heat
transfer area and more perturbations than the other three MCHS con­
figurations amplifying the latent heat effect of MPCM particles. As
shown in Fig. 15(b), the frictional entropy generation of these four
MCHS structures increases with mass fraction in the range of 0 ~ 20%,
due to the increment in viscosity with the increase of mass fraction
resulting in greater frictional resistance. The total entropy generation
rate, which is the sum of heat transfer and frictional terms, is given in
Fig. 15(c) for all considered mass fractions of MPCM suspension.
Comparing Fig. 15(a) and Fig. 15(b), the order of magnitude of thermal
entropy production is much larger than that of frictional one, which
means that the total entropy production is approximately equal to the
thermal entropy production. Meanwhile, the combination of wavy
MCHS and porous fins has the lowest total entropy production, which
indicates that wavy MCHS with porous fins has lower irreversible energy
losses compared to other channel arrangements. Combined with Fig. 15
(a)-(c), the proportion of heat transfer entropy production in the total
entropy production of four MCHS configurations decreases with sus­
pension concentration due to the larger increase amplitude of frictional
entropy, while the flow friction entropy production is the opposite. The
Bejan numbers of straight MCHS with solid and porous fins are almost
the same for different operating conditions (including inlet flow veloc­
ity, heat flux, and suspension concentration), which is the result of
H. Dai and Y. Liu
Fig. 15. Variations of entropy generation rate with mass fraction for different MCHS configurations for: (a) thermal entropy generation, (b) frictional entropy
generation and (c) total entropy generation.
convective heat transfer between the coolant and wall as well as fric­
tional pressure drop in microchannel synergistically affecting the total
entropy production. Compared with the conventional channel configu­
rations (i.e., straight MCHS with solid fins, straight MCHS with porous
fins, and wavy MCHS with solid fins), the MCHS design with a combi­
nation of porous fins and wavy channels could significantly enhance
heat transfer by adding less frictional resistance. Besides, the contribu­
tion of frictional entropy production to irreversible energy loss is
negligible compared with thermal entropy production in the total en­
tropy production. Therefore, lower irreversible losses can be obtained at
the cost of increasing pumping power consumption, and the compre­
hensive performance of wavy MCHS can be evaluated based on the
entropy generation rate and Be number to determine reasonable design
parameters and working conditions.
4. Conclusions
In this paper, the effects of geometric parameters (including wavy
amplitude, wavelength, and channel width ratio), working conditions
(including inlet velocity, heat flux, and slurry concentration), and
microcapsule particles dispersed into base fluid on thermohydraulic
performance and entropy generation inside wavy microchannels with
solid and porous fins are numerically examined. A three-dimensional
solid–fluid conjugate model is developed for simulating the incom­
pressible, steady and laminar flow states of MPCM slurry flow within the
wavy channel. The main conclusions are summarized as follows:
1. The combination of porous fins and MPCM suspension as cooling
medium can significantly improve the heat transfer capacity of wavy
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Applied Thermal Engineering 219 (2023) 119440
MCHS, showing smaller temperature gradient in the z-direction and
more uniform temperature distribution than conventional solid fin heat
sink.
2. Both the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop increase with
decreasing wavelength due to larger specific surface area of vertical fins
and more flow vortices enhancing convection, and they vary approxi­
mately linearly with wavelength in wavy MCHS with porous fins.
3. More fluid admixture and disturbance are the main reasons for the
increase of pressure drop in wavy MCHS with porous fin at smaller
channel width ratio, while its reduction at larger channel width ratio is
attributed to the stable and uniform flow caused by less flow rate and
vortexes.
4. The greater heat transfer coefficient and lower pressure drop in
MCHS with porous fins can be obtained than those with solid fins,
especially for the geometric parameters of wavy porous fin MCHS with
MPCM suspension should be optimized to achieve superior thermo-
hydraulic characteristics.
5. The lower total entropy production of porous fin MCHS than non-
porous mode occurs at different wavy amplitudes, which is attributed to
the porous fin’s property of simultaneously enhancing convective heat
transfer and reducing frictional pressure drop. In comparison with
straight configuration, the smaller Bejan number appears in wavy mode,
which is associated with more convection and larger frictional
resistance.
6. The thermal entropy generation is three orders of magnitude
larger than the frictional entropy generation, and thermal entropy
generation increases with increasing heat flux but the frictional entropy
generation decreases. Lower irreversible losses can be obtained at the
H. Dai and Y. Liu Applied Thermal Engineering 219 (2023) 119440

cost of increasing pumping power consumption, and the comprehensive [23] T.-C. Hung, W.-M. Yan, W.-P. Li, Analysis of heat transfer characteristics of double-
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