International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 62 (2013) 741–751

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International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer

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

Heat transfer enhancement in microchannel heat sinks with periodic

expansion–constriction cross-sections
Lei Chai a,b,⇑, Guodong Xia a, Liang Wang b, Mingzheng Zhou a,c, Zhenzhen Cui a
a
Key Laboratory of Enhanced Heat Transfer and Energy Conservation, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental and Energy Engineering, Beijing University of
Technology, Beijing, China
b
Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
c
State Nuclear Power Technology R&D Center, Beijing, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The heat transfer enhancement of microchannel heat sinks with periodic expansion–constriction cross-
Received 4 December 2012 sections is investigated both experimentally and numerically. Each heat sink consists of 10 parallel
Received in revised form 25 February 2013 microchannels with 0.1 mm wide and 0.2 mm deep in constant cross-section segment and each
Accepted 2 March 2013
microchannel consists of an array of periodic expansion–constriction cross-sections. Three-dimensional
Available online 16 April 2013
laminar numerical simulations, based on the Navier–Stokes equations and energy equation, are obtained
for pressure drop and heat transfer in these microchannel heat sinks under the same experimental
Keywords:
conditions. Multi-channel effect, entrance effect, conjugate heat transfer, viscous heating and tempera-
Expansion–constriction
Microchannel
ture dependent properties are considered. It is found that the numerical predictions of apparent friction
Heat transfer factor and Nusselt number are in good agreement with experimental data. The influences of periodic
Thermal resistance expansion–constriction cross sections on pressure drop, heat transfer and thermal resistance are dis-
cussed, respectively. The effects of the entrance and exit plenum regions and the lateral parts of silicon
wafer on fluid flow and heat transfer are discussed. Special attentions are given to analyze the variation of
thermal resistance for each term with pumping power, corresponding to three stages of heat release at
the substrate of heat sink.
Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction single–phase liquid flow in microchannel flows. Rosa et al. [3]

Microchannel heat sinks are used in a variety of devices incor-
porating single-phase liquid flow as one of the most promising
high efficiency heat exchange technologies. The application
involves the cooling of electronic devices, automotive heat
exchangers, laser process equipment and aerospace technology,
etc.
Since the pioneering work by Tuckerman and Pease [1] in the
early 1980s, there has been a great deal of interest in the study
of fluid flow and heat transfer in microchannels. In order to gener-
ate a set of design equations to predict the pressure drop occurring
in microchannel flow devices, Steinke and Kandlikar [2] reviewed
the available literature on single–phase liquid friction factors in
microchannels, generated a database to critically evaluate the
experimental data available in the literature and performed an
in-depth comparison of previous experimental data to identify
the discrepancies in reported literature. They concluded that the
conventional Stokes and Poiseuille flow theories could apply for
⇑ Corresponding author at: Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chinese
Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. Tel.: +86 10 82543175.
E-mail address: chailei@iet.cn (L. Chai).
presented a review of the experimental and numerical results
available in the open literatures for microscale single–phase heat
transfer. They concluded that heat transfer in microchannels could
be suitably described by standard theory and correlations, but
scaling effects (entrance effects, conjugate heat transfer, viscous
heating, electric double layer (EDL) effects, temperature dependent
properties, surface roughness, rarefaction and compressibility ef-
fects), often negligible in macrochannels, might have a significant
influence and had to be accounted for.
Due to rapid increase in power density and miniaturization of
electronic packages, very high heat flux chip cooling requires
smaller hydraulic diameter and larger flow rate, which can lead
to very high pressure drop. In allusion to this question, intense
research has ensued and many investigations have been conducted
to study the heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of the new-
ly proposed microchannel heat sink.
Xu et al. [4,5] demonstrated a new silicon microchannel heat
sink composing of parallel longitudinal microchannels and several
transverse microchannels, and provided three-dimensional
numerical simulations of conjugate heat transfer in the newly
proposed interrupted microchannel heat sink. Cheng [6] used com-
putational fluid dynamics to simulate the flow and heat transfer in

0017-9310/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2013.03.045
742 L. Chai et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 62 (2013) 741–751

Nomenclature

A area, m2 x+ non-dimensional flow length for the hydrodynamic

cp specific heat, J kg1 K1 boundary layer development
Dh hydraulic diameter, m x⁄ non-dimensional flow length for the thermal boundary
F microchannel with fan-shaped reentrant cavities layer development
f friction factor Greek lettersq
h heat transfer coefficient, W m2 K1 density, kg m3
L overall length of the microchannel, m l dynamic viscosity, Pa s
m mass flowrate of water, kg s1 k thermal conductivity, W m1 K1
n local coordinate normal to the wall
N number of parallel microchannels Subscripts
Nu Nusselt number app apparent
p static pressure, Pa ave average
P pumping power, W cap capacitive term
Pr Prandtl number of water cond conductive term
q heat flux at the silicon substrate, W m2 cont contact surface
Q heating power, W conv convective term
R rectangle microchannel, given function exp experimental measurement value
Rt total thermal resistance, K W1 f fluid
Re Reynolds number film thin film heater
T temperature, K; microchannel with triangular reentrant in inlet
cavities mic microchannel region
u velocity, m s1 los loss
4p pressure drop, Pa out outlet
4Tm temperature difference between the substrate and the s silicon
water, K x along x direction
x, y, z three coordinates shown in Fig. 3, m w wall of the silicon substrate

a stacked two–layer microchannels with multiple MEMS easy-pro-
cessing passive microstructures. Korichi and Oufer [7] numerically
investigated the fluid flow and heat transfer in a horizontal channel
with periodically mounted obstacles on both upper and lower
walls for 50 6 Re 6 1000. Promvonge et al. [8] carried out a
numerical investigation to examine laminar flow and heat transfer
characteristics in a three-dimensional isothermal wall square
channel with 45°-angled baffles. Sui et al. [9] numerically studied
laminar water flow and heat transfer in three-dimensional wavy
microchannels with rectangular cross-sections. Foong et al. [10]
conducted a three-dimensional numerical simulation to investi-
gate the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics of a square
microchannel with four longitudinal internal fins. Dogan and
Sivrioglu [11] studied the mixed convection heat transfer from
longitudinal fins in a horizontal channel with a uniform heat flux
boundary condition at the bottom surface. Danish et al. [12]
performed the shape optimization of a microchannel heat sink
with a grooved structure using a multi-objective evolutionary
algorithm. The thermal-resistance and pumping-power character-
istics of the microchannel heat sink were investigated numerically.
The Navier–Stokes and energy equations for laminar flow and
conjugate heat transfer were solved using a finite-volume solver.
In comparison with a smooth microchannel, a decrease in the
thermal resistance and an increase in the Nusselt number were
obtained in a grooved microchannel at the expense of pumping
power. Liu et al. [13] numerically studied the forced convection
heat transfer occurring in microchannel using CFD (computational
fluid dynamics) and LB (lattice Boltzmann) approaches. The results
implied that the shield shaped groove microchannel possessed the
high heat exchange performance and compared with the lowest
heat transfer efficiency of the plain surface structure, the averaged
Nusselt number could be increased by about 1.3 times. Chai et al.
[14] studied the pressure drop and heat transfer characteristics
of the interrupted microchannel heat sink with rectangular ribs
in the transverse microchambers and analyzed the effects of
dimension and position parameters of rectangular rib on these
characteristics. Xia et al. [15,16] analyzed the effect of geometric
parameters on water flow and heat transfer characteristics in the
microchannel heat sink with fan-shaped and triangular reentrant
cavities, and obtained the optimal geometric parameters on the
basis of the thermal enhancement factor performance.
From the above literatures one can see that to interrupt the
thermal boundary layer and to induce the mainstream separation
are two significant means to enhance heat transfer in microscale.
Therefore, in this paper we use the thermal boundary layer rede-
veloping concept in microscale [4] and the mainstream separation
method [12] to propose a new design of the silicon-based micro-
channel array with periodic expansion–constriction cross-sections.
Based on the optimal geometric parameters of microchannel heat
sink with fan-shaped and triangular reentrant cavities, two micro-
channel heat sinks with periodic expansion–constriction cross-sec-
tions were designed and manufactured. Then the experimental
study on forced convection of water in microchannel heat sinks
has been performed. Combined with the experimental research,
numerical computations were developed to obtain the local and
average flow and heat transfer characteristics.
2. Test section and experimental apparatus
2.1. Description of the microchannel heat sinks
Three silicon microchannel heat sinks were fabricated in clean
room environment. Two of these heat sinks are the newly proposed
microchannel heat sinks with periodic expansion–constriction
cross-sections. And the last one is the rectangular straight micro-
channel heat sink (R for short) for comparison. As shown in
Fig. 1a, the silicon wafer is 20 mm in length, 10 mm in width,
 L. Chai et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 62 (2013) 741–751
0.35 mm in thickness, respectively. The whole length of the paral-
lel microchannels in longitudinal direction is 10 mm, the total
width covering the ten microchannels is 3 mm, and the depth of
the microchannel is 0.2 mm. The lengths of the entrance and exit
plenum regions are 5 mm, respectively. The length of the lateral
parts of silicon wafer is 3.5 mm. A thin platinum film was depos-
ited at the backside of the silicon wafer by ‘‘chemical vapor depo-
sition’’ technique to provide a uniform heat flux. The thin film has
the same length and width of the parallel microchannel region,
which is displayed in Fig. 1a as the red box drawing. The film hea-
ter was connected to a precision DC power supply unit and heat
generated in the heater was transferred to the liquid flow from
microchannels. Fig. 1b shows the dimensions of the expansion–
constriction cross-section. For the microchannel with fan-shaped
reentrant cavities (F for short), the field angle of the fan-shaped
reentrant cavity is 120° and the radius is 0.1 mm. For the micro-
channel with triangular reentrant cavities (T for short), the length
of expansion cross-section is 0.06 mm and the length of the con-
striction cross-section is 0.14 mm in the direction of the flow,
and the depth of the triangular reentrant cavity is 0.05 mm. The
distance between two adjacent reentrant cavities is 0.4 mm.
The three silicon microchannel heat sinks were manufactured
by the dry etching-based micro-fabrication technologies, which
could achieve high vertical aspect ratios and extend the limits of
deep etching down to the 40–300 lm in the manufacturing of sin-
gle-crystal silicon for micro-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS).
The schematic representation of the primary steps in the process
flow is displayed in the Ref. [17].The processed wafer is stripped
of any remaining resist or oxide layers and anodically bonded to
a 1 mm thick polished Pyrex (glass) wafer to form a sealed device.
The detailed manufacturing operations were completed by the Na-
tional Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Micro/Nano
Fabrication, Institute of Microelectronics, Peking University, Bei-
jing, China.
The packaging used to mount the silicon microchannel heat
sinks is shown in Fig. 1c. The packaging material is PMMA (poly
methyl meth acrylate), which has a very small thermal conductiv-
ity (0.18 W m1 K1). The heat sink was carefully introduced into
the cuboid cavity, which had the size of 11  0.5  3 mm. The gaps
between the cavity and the heat sink were sealed by sealant. Par-
ticular attention was paid to connecting to prevent the sealant into
the heat sink. To avoid damaging the heat sink in the packaging
and experiment processes, two reinforced girders are chosen be-
tween the two packagings.
2.2. Experimental apparatus
Fig. 2 shows the experimental setup and corresponding
apparatus used in the present investigation. The deionized water
in the water tank, being pumped by a pump, flowed successively
through a flowmeter, a liquid valve regulator, a constant tempera-
ture water tank, a 2 lm filter, to the silicon wafer test section, and
finally returned to a glass beaker. The glass beaker was placed on a
high precision electronic balance. The water temperature into the
test section was controlled by the constant temperature water tank.
The inlet and outlet water temperatures were measured by the high
precision OMEGA T thermocouples with the diameters of 0.127 mm
and the uncertainty of 0.05 K. The inlet and outlet water pressures
were measured by the Rosemount pressure transducer and pressure
difference transducer with the uncertainty less than 0.1%. The aver-
age temperature of the thin platinum film was determined accord-
ing to the relationship between resistance and temperature of
platinum. The thin platinum film heater was energized by a DC
power supply, which could be regulated in the ranges of 0–50 V
and 0–10 A. The steady water mass flow rate was determined by
weighing the mass increment over a longer given period of time
743
using a high precision electronic balance (LP6200S), which has the
accuracy of 0.01 g. All of the pressure and temperature signals were
collected by an Agilent data acquisition system. In order to decrease
the heat loss to environment, the high quality heat insulation mate-
rial was wrapped on the outer surface of the connection tube be-
tween the outlet of the water tank and the outlet of the test section.
2.3. Data acquisition
The data reduction procedure is similar to Wu and Cheng [18].
Since the pressure gradients found in microchannels are quite
high, the flow lengths are generally kept low. To account for the
developing region, the pressure drop equations are presented in
terms of an apparent friction factor. The overall apparent friction
factor fapp,ave is defined as:
Dh 1
fapp;ave ¼ Dpmic   ð1Þ
L 2qf u2ave
Dpmic ¼ Dpexp  Dplos ð2Þ
where 4pmic is the pressure drop across the microchannel, 4pexp is
the experimental measured pressure drop by the transducer, 4plos
is the pressure loss, including the frictional loss between the
position of transducer and the microchannels, the expansion and
contraction loss due to area change [2]. qf is the density of water.
Dh and L are the hydraulic diameter and the length of microchannel
along longitudinal direction, respectively. uave is the average veloc-
ity of water. For the convenience of calculations and to contrast
with the corresponding straight microchannel, the values of uave
and Dh in the constant cross–section segment are adopted for all
the microchannels.
The overall heat transfer coefficient is expressed as:
qAfilm
have ¼ ð3Þ
NAcon DT m
mcp ðT out  T in Þ
q¼ ð4Þ
Afilm
1
DT m ¼ T w  ðT in þ T out Þ ð5Þ
2
where q is the effective heat flux based on the film heater area, m is
the mass flowrate of water, N is the number of parallel microchan-
nels, cp is the specific heat of water, Afilm is the platinum film heater
area (Afilm = 10  3 = 30 mm2), Acon is the contact surface area of
water and a single longitudinal microchannel, for convenience in
calculation and contrast with the microchannel R, which is defined
as (Acon = 10  0.5 = 5 mm2), 4Tm is the temperature difference be-
tween the substrate and the water, Tw is the average temperature of
the substrate and obtained by the temperature–resistance relation-
ship of the microheater, Tin and Tout are the measured inlet and the
outlet fluid temperature, respectively.
The average Nusselt number is written as:
have Dh
Nuave ¼ ð6Þ
kf
where kf is the thermal conductivity of water. The physical
properties of water, including q, l, kf , and cp, are given in terms
of the mean temperature of water T f ¼ 12 ðT in þ T out Þ and are as-
sumed independent of pressure.
The experiment covers the following ranges: pressure drops of
8.44–187.96 kPa, inlet temperatures of 293 K, mass flux of 832.17–
5825.1 kg m2 s1, and the project heat flux is 0.6 MW m2, which
is defined as the total heating power that is received by the liquid
divided by the effective heating area. Deionized water is used as
the working fluid.
744 L. Chai et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 62 (2013) 741–751

Fig. 1. Structure and size of heat sinks. (a) Structure (b) size (c) packaging.

Fig. 2. Experimental setup and apparatus.

An uncertainty analysis is carried out on relevant parameters Eq. (7) can be further written as
using the procedure described by Moffat [19]. If R is a given func-
"  2  2  2  2 #1=2
tion of the independent variables x1 ; x2 ; x3 ; . . . ; xn , and DR 1 @R 1 @R 1 @R 1 @R
Dx1 ; Dx2 ; Dx3 ; . . . ; Dxn are the uncertainties in these independent ¼ 2 Dx1 þ 2 D x2 þ 2 Dx3 þ  þ 2 D xn
R R @x1 R @x2 R @x3 R @xn
variables, the uncertainty of R can be evaluated by
ð8Þ
" 2  2  2  2 #1=2 In this paper, the maximum values of uncertainty are domi-
@R @R @R @R
DR ¼ D x1 þ D x2 þ Dx3 þ  þ Dxn ð7Þ nated by the flow controller, manometer, and temperature mea-
@x1 @x2 @x3 @xn
surement limits. Based on the instruments and methods
 L. Chai et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 62 (2013) 741–751 745

Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of numerical simulation domain.

state. (2) The effect of gravity and other forms of body forces are
negligible. (3) The dynamic viscosity of water is set as piecewise-
linear functions of water temperature as shown in Table 2 [20].
(4) Viscous dissipation is taken into account. (5) Multi-channel
effect is considered (half of the heat sink is involved in the compu-
tation). The governing equations can be expressed as follows:
@
ðq ui Þ ¼ 0 ð9Þ
@xi f
  
@ @p @ @uj @ui
ðq ui uj Þ ¼  þ lf þ ; i; j ¼ 1; 2; 3 ð10Þ
@xi f @xj @xi @xi @xj

  "    2 #
2
@ @ @T @ui @uj @ui
ðq ui cpf TÞ ¼ kf þ lf 2 þ þ ð11Þ
@xi f @xi @xi @xi @xi @xj

The energy conservation equation for silicon is written as:

 
@ @T
ks ¼0 ð12Þ
@xi @xi
In order to explore the fluid flow and heat transfer characteris-
tics in detail, the lateral parts of silicon wafer, the entrance and exit
plenum regions are added to the solution domains. As shown in
Fig. 3, the half of heat sink is chosen to present a schematic illus-
tration of the computational domain for the three-dimensional
heat sink used in the present simulations.
The hydrodynamic boundary conditions are: at the channel wall
surface (no-slip and no-penetration), u = v = w = 0; at the inlet of
Fig. 4. Grid generations in the x–y plane. heat sink, x = 0, uf = umic,in/3, umic,in is equal to uave obtained by
the experiment; at the outlet, x = 20 mm, pf = pout = 1 atm.
employed in our experiments, the uncertainties of our basic The thermal boundary conditions are: x = 0, Tf = Tin = 293 K for
measured parameters are presented in Table 1. It can be seen that the water, ks @T s
¼ 0 for the silicon wafer; x = 20 mm, kf @T f
¼0
@x @x
the uncertainties of Re, fapp and Nuave due to measurement errors in
for the water, ks @T
@x
s @
¼ 0 for the silicon wafer; y = 0, @y ¼ 0 (symme-
this study were no more than 1.22%, 3.95% and 7.39%, respectively.
try); y = 5 mm, ks @T
@x
s
¼ 0 for the silicon wafer; z = 0, ks @T
@z
s
¼ q;

3. Numerical simulation z = 0.35 mm, kf @T

@x
f
¼ 0 for the water, ks @T
@x
s
¼ 0 for the silicon wa-
fer;at the inner wall/ fluid surface, ks @T @n
s
¼ kf @T
@n
f
, n is the local
The Navier–Stokes and energy equations are used to model the coordinate normal to the wall.
convective heat transfer process with the following assumptions: The sensitivity analysis of grids was performed. For the heat
(1) Three-dimensional, incompressible, laminar and in steady sink R, 0.6, 0.9 and 1.2 million grids are tried, at which the average
746 L. Chai et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 62 (2013) 741–751

Parameter definitions are needed to characterize the flow and

heat transfer in the microchannel heat sinks. For
5 mm 6 x 6 15 mm, the non-dimensional flow distance x+ and
the local friction factor fapp,x are given by:
x  xmic;in
xþ ¼ ð13Þ
Dh Re

Re ¼ uave Dh qf =lf ð14Þ

ðpmic;in  px ÞDh
fapp;x ¼ ð15Þ
2ðx  xmic;in Þqu2ave
Z Z
1
px ¼ pðx; y; zÞ  dydz ð16Þ
yz y z

where x is the axial flow direction location.

The non-dimensionalized thermal length x⁄ and the local Nus-
selt number are given by:
Fig. 5. fappRe versus Re.
x  xmic;in
x ¼ ð17Þ
Dh RePr

Nusselt numbers deviate 5.8%, 3.6% and 0.9% and the friction hx D h
Nux ¼ ð18Þ
factors deviate 4.1%, 2.3% and 0.7% from those of 1.6 million grids. kf
Thus we use 1.2 million grids for the heat sink R. For the heat sink
F, deviations of the average Nusselt numbers using 0.6, 1.2, 1.8 and qAsub
hx ¼ ð19Þ
2.4 million grids from that using 3.0 million grids are 10.2%, 6.3%, Acon ½T w ðxÞ  T f ðxÞ
3.2% and 1.1%, and at which the friction factors deviate 8.7%, Z
4.1%, 1.9% and 0.9%. Thus we use 2.4 million grids for the heat sink 1
T w ðxÞ ¼ T w ðx; y; 0Þ  dy ð20Þ
F. For the heat sink T, deviations of the average Nusselt numbers y y
using 0.6, 1.2, 1.8 and 2.4 million grids from that using 3.0 million R
grids are 10.4%, 6.6%, 3.6% and 1.2%, and at which the friction fac- Ac
quðx; y; zÞcp T f ðx; y; zÞ  dAc
T f ðxÞ ¼ R ð21Þ
tors deviate 9.4%, 4.7%, 2.3% and 0.9%. Thus we use 2.4 million grids quðx; y; zÞcp  dAc
Ac
for the heat sink T. Fig. 4 shows the unstructured grids of the x–y
plane for the computational domain of the heat sinks. where the Pr numbers are set as piecewise-linear functions of water
The simulations were performed using the FLUENT 6.3.26 soft- temperature as shown in Table 2 [20].
ware. The code were discretized by the second order upwind dif-
ferencing scheme, decoupling with the SIMPLEX algorithm and 4. Results and discussion
solved using a finite volume approach. The solutions were consid-
ered to be converged when the normalized residual values were 4.1. Pressure drop
less than 105 for all variables but 107 only for the energy equa-
tion. Because the smaller Reynolds number can result in larger Fig. 5 shows a comparison of the numerical predictions and
variations of physical properties of water at the given heat flux, experimental data for fapp Re. As shown in Fig. 5, the present
a smaller relaxation factor is needed to reach the convergence numerical predictions are found to be in excellent agreement with
of the computations. In this study, the relaxation factor is in the the experimental data, whose maximum differences are 1.02% for
range of 0.2–0.8 for the momentum and energy equations. the heat sink R, 6.16% for the heat sink F, 5.96% for the heat sink

Fig. 6. Velocity distribution at the plane of z = 0.25 mm.

 L. Chai et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 62 (2013) 741–751 747

Fig. 7. Pressure distribution at the plane of z = 0.25 mm.

Fig. 8. px versus x. Fig. 9. fapp,xRe versus x+.

T, respectively. From the figures, one can observe that in the range
of Re < 300, the heat sink with periodic expansion–constriction
cross-sections have substantial decrease of pressure drop
compared with the heat sink R. In the range of 300 < Re < 750, with
an increase of Reynolds number, the fappRe for the heat sink with
periodic expansion–constriction cross-sections increase rapidly
and are obviously higher than those of the heat sink R. This can
be attributed to the convective fluid mixing in the reentrant cavity
and the redeveloping boundary layer along the constant
cross-section segment. The fappRe of the heat sink T is obviously a
little larger than that of the heat sink F. This suggests that the form
drag induced by the triangular reentrant cavity is larger than that
of the fan-shaped reentrant cavity.
It is necessary to understand the flow structure and behavior in
the microchannels before discussing the local fluid flow character-
istics. Refs. [15,16] displayed the local flow structure in the reen-
trant cavity. Now, multi-channel effect is considered and half of
the heat sink is involved in the computation. Fig. 6 presents the
velocity distribution in the heat sink for Re = 474.6 at the plane Fig. 10. Nu versus Re.
of z = 0.25 mm. As shown in Fig. 6, in the entrance plenum region,
water flows gently and regularly. However, in the exit plenum re- to produce high dissipation rates and the velocity distribution is
gion, the main flow separates to form lots of recirculation regions, confused and disordered. Simultaneously, around the centerline
the water from the recirculation region joins the main liquid flow and near the sidewall in the exit plenum region, the velocity is
748 L. Chai et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 62 (2013) 741–751

Fig. 11. Temperature distribution at the plane of z = 0.25 mm.

Fig. 12. Temperature distribution at the plane of z = 0.

relatively small and the laminar stagnation zone is so much more
prone to develop.
Fig. 7 presents the corresponding pressure distribution for
Re = 474.6 at the plane of z = 0.25 mm. Corresponding to the
regular velocity distribution in the entrance plenum region, the
pressure has almost the same value for the fixed x value. Corre-
sponding to the disordered velocity distribution in the exit plenum
region, the pressure boundary is no longer tending to straight line
and the pressure has larger values around the laminar stagnation
zone.
Fig. 8 gives the calculation results of local pressure drop px
along x direction for Re = 474.6. In the entrance plenum region,
the pressure is inching down with the same velocity of flow in
the three heat sinks due to the same geometry there. In the micro-
channel region, for the heat sink R, the pressure is continuously de-
creased by a frictional pressure loss along the microchannel, and
for the newly proposed microchannel heat sinks, the pressure drop
consists of not only the term along the microchannel, but also the
term in the reentrant cavities. When the water flows into the
expansion cross-section region, the velocity slows down and the
pressure builds up, and when the water flows into the constriction
cross-section region, the velocity increases and the pressure de-
creases. When the water flows in the constant cross-section region,
because the laminar flow boundary layer is interrupted by the
reentrant cavity, the pressure shows a clear trend of declining rap-
idly. In the exit plenum region, the pressure drops slowly to the
general trend except at the beginning portion. There the pressure
goes up firstly due to sudden-expansion cross-section, and fluctu-
ates wildly due to the laminar stagnation zone development.
To take into account the entrance effects on the overall friction
factor in the microchannel region, the dimensionless developing
length x+ is the proper parameter [21]. Fig. 9 shows the corre-
sponding varying local fapp,xRe with the non-dimensional flow dis-
tance x+ for Re = 474.6. As Ref. [22], for the heat sink R, the
distribution of fapp,xRe does not depend on Re and the dimension-
less hydrodynamic length x+ is 0.055. As shown Fig. 9, in the range
 L. Chai et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 62 (2013) 741–751
Fig. 13. Tw,x versus x.
Fig. 14. Nu,x versus x⁄.
of x+ < 0.055, the fapp,xRe decreases rapidly with an increase of x+,
due to the finite thickness of the boundary layer at the microchan-
nel entrance. However, in the range of x+ > 0.055, the fapp,xRe
decreases linearly with increasing of x+. This result is caused by
the increase of fluid temperature along the flow direction, which
results in a decrease of viscosity. Furthermore, as observed in
Fig. 9, the following phenomena could be identified. (1) Near the
inlet of the microchannel, the fapp,xRe values of the microchannels
with periodic expansion–constriction cross-sections are lower
than those of the microchannel R. This is because the expansion–
constriction cross-sections bring down the influence of the
developing region effects on the apparent friction factor. (2) The
fapp,xRe values of the microchannals with periodic expansion–con-
striction cross-sections present a back-and-forth motion around a
reference curve, corresponding to the expansion–constriction
cross-section effects on the pressure drop. The amplitude of the
motion decreases gradually along the flow direction, which is
mainly caused by the definition of the fapp,x. (3) In the range of
x+ > 0.055, for the newly proposed microchannel heat sinks, with
an increase of x+, the fapp,xRe has a comparatively gently downward
tendency than that of the microchannel R. This is because with a
decrease of viscosity along the flow direction, the mixing enhance-
ment of the mainstream and the second flow from the reentrant
cavity results in an increase of apparent friction factor.
749
Fig. 15. Total thermal resistance versus pumping power.
Fig. 16. Term thermal resistance versus pumping power.
4.2. Heat transfer
Fig. 10 displays the average Nusselt number as a function of
Reynolds number for the heat sinks. It is worth noting in Fig. 10,
heat transfer is enhanced remarkably by the periodic expansion–
constriction cross-sections, the Nusselt number value tends to
increase with the rise of Reynolds number for all the heat sink
and the growth rate of Nusselt number for the newly proposed
heat sinks is much higher than that of the heat sink R. In the range
of 147.23 < Re < 752.34, compared with the heat sink R, the heat
transfer coefficient increases 12.5–72.3% for the heat sink F, and
21.5–80.4% for the heat sink T.
Figs. 11 and 12 depict the temperature distributions for
Re = 474.6 at the plane of z = 0.25 mm and z = 0, respectively. The
figures show that there is a minor change in the temperature field
over the newly proposed heat sinks. This means that the expan-
sion–constriction cross-sections provide a significant influence on
the temperature field, because it can induce better fluid mixing be-
tween the wall and the core flow regions. As shown in the Figures,
due to the heat conduction in the lateral parts of wafer, the maxi-
mum temperature appears near the outlet of microchannel region,
the temperature is slightly different among the microchannels, and
the temperature reaches the maximum later as the microchannel
750 L. Chai et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 62 (2013) 741–751

between total thermal resistance and pumping power is shown

in Fig. 15. The total thermal resistance is defined as the ratio of
the temperature difference of the substrate and the inlet of
microchannel to the heating power received by water in the micro-
channel region:
T w  T in; mic
Rt ¼ ð22Þ
Q
where Q is the heating power received by water in the microchan-
nel region, which is calculated by Q ¼ mcp ðT out; mic  T in; mic Þ. The
pumping power to circulate the coolant water in the heat sink is re-
lated to the pressure drop and the volumetric flow rate, and can be
calculated as follows:
Dpmic m
P ¼ Dpmic V ¼ ð23Þ
qf
where V is the volumetric flow rate.
In order to obtain some insight into the basic mechanisms and
Fig. 17. Ratio of term thermal resistance to total thermal resistance versus
properties of such heat sinks, the heat release progress from the
pumping power. film heater at the substrate to the cool water is divided into three
stages: the conductive term, the convective term and the capaci-
tive term, and the corresponding thermal resistance for each term
nears the lateral parts of wafer. The higher temperature gradient is given by:
can be observed near the outlet of the microchannel region when
T w  T cont
the water flows into the exit plenum region where there is no plat- Rcond ¼ ð24Þ
inum film heater at the substrate of the silicon wafer. Q
Fig. 13 shows the longitudinal distribution of temperatures for
T cont  T f
Re = 474.6 at the plane of z = 0. In the range of 0 mm < x < 5 mm, Rconv ¼ ð25Þ
corresponding to the entrance plenum region where there is no
Q
platinum film heater at the substrate of the silicon wafer, the
T f  T in
temperature increases slowly due to heat conduction. In the range Rcap ¼ ð26Þ
Q
of 5 mm < x < 15 mm, corresponding to the microchannel region,
as a whole, the temperature behaves the ‘‘horseback’’ shape with where Tcont is the temperature of the contact surface of water and
R
apparent positive gradient along x-direction, reaches the maxi- T w ðx;y;zÞdA
silicon wall, which is defined as T cont ¼ R .
mum value at x = 14 mm and drops swiftly in the range of dA

14 mm < x < 15 mm. In the range of 15 mm < x < 20 mm, corre- As shown in Fig. 15, with an increase of pumping power, the to-
sponding to the exit plenum region where there is no film heater tal thermal resistance reduces dramatically at low pumping power
at the substrate, the temperature at first diminishes rapidly, and and the drop speed continues to moderate at high pumping power.
then has a slight decline along x-direction due to the thermal con- This can be explained as follows: the convective term thermal
duction in solid silicon. It can also be seen from Fig. 13, the maxi- resistance decreases due to the rapid increase of heat transfer coef-
mum of temperature at the substrate of the newly proposed heat ficient with an increase of the Reynolds number as shown in
sinks is well below that of the heat sink R. Fig. 10, the capacitive term thermal resistance shows a linear
Fig. 14 shows the longitudinal distribution of local Nusselt downward trend and the conductive term does not change with
number for Re = 474.6. The following trends can be observed: (1) an increase of volumetric flow rate, all of these factors lead to
The Nusselt numbers are much higher at the entrance of micro- the total thermal resistance declining with an increase of pumping
channel region, but for the newly proposed microchannels, the power. However, with an increase of volumetric flow rate, the
thermal entrance effect is weakened obviously. This can be attrib- pressure drop also increases rapidly, and the pumping power will
uted to the expansion–constriction cross-sections, which hinder increase considerably whose growth rate is far faster than the drop
the development of the thermal boundary layer and keep it in a rate of total thermal resistance. The variation of each component of
certain level for a given Reynolds number. (2) Due to the thermal the thermal resistance with pumping power is given in Fig. 16.
conduction in the silicon wafer and the sudden-expansion cross- With an increase of pumping power, the conductive thermal resis-
section from the microchannel region to the exit plenum region, tance does not change, the convective and the capacitive thermal
an obvious positive gradient of Nusselt number occurs at the end resistances reduce, and the difference of thermal resistance be-
of the microchannel region. (3) For the newly proposed microchan- tween the newly proposed heat sinks and the heat sink R is mainly
nels, corresponding to the expansion–constriction cross-section, embodied in the convective term thermal resistance. Fig. 17 shows
the local Nusselt numbers present small fluctuations, which de-
crease in the expansion cross-section and increase in the constric- Table 1
tion cross-section, and the amplitude of periodic fluctuation is far Measurement uncertainties.
less than that of local friction factor because with the variation of Parameters Maximum Parameters Maximum
cross-section, the velocity of flow changes obviously but the tem- uncertainties (%) uncertainties (%)
perature alters little. Dh 0.34 Rt 2.28
Aflim 0.01 Dp 3.29
4.3. Thermal resistance m 1.00 DTm 7.35
uave 1.05 fave 3.95
Re 1.22 have 7.36
In order to give a clearer understanding of the thermal perfor-
Q 2.05 Nu 7.39
mance in the microchannel region of the heat sink, the relation
 L. Chai et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 62 (2013) 741–751
Table 2
Dynamic viscosities and Pr numbers of water at different temperatures [20].
T (K) 293 303 313
l (Pa s) 0.001004 0.0008015 0.0006533
Pr 7.02 5.42 4.31
T (K) 333 343 353
l (Pa s) 0.0004699 0.0004061 0.0003551
Pr 2.99 2.55 2.21
the ratio of each component of the thermal resistance to total
thermal resistance with pumping power. With an increase of
pumping power, the conductive thermal resistance proportion
shows a slight increase due to the decrease of total thermal resis-
tance, the convective thermal resistance proportion first increases
and then flattens out, and the capacitive thermal resistance
proportion decreases rapidly at first and then slowly. At high
pumping power, the conductive term thermal resistance propor-
tion is about 0.11 for the newly proposed heat sinks and 0.07 for
the heat sink R, the convective thermal resistance proportion is
about 0.65 for the newly proposed heat sinks, and 0.11 for the heat
sink R, the capacitive thermal resistance proportion is about 0.24
for the newly proposed heat sinks, 0.17 for the heat sink R.
5. Conclusions
The following conclusions can be drawn from the present study:
(1) The good agreement between the numerical predictions and
experimental data confirms that classical Navier–Stokes and
energy equations are still valid to model convection in
microchannel heat sinks with periodic expansion–constric-
tion cross-sections as Re < 750 but the effects, including
entrance effects, conjugate heat transfer, viscous heating,
temperature dependent properties, have to be accounted for.
(2) Compared with the heat sink R, the pressure drop of heat
sink with periodic expansion–constriction cross-sections is
lower as Re < 300, but increases rapidly and is obviously
higher as 300 < Re < 750.
(3) The fapp,xRe values of the newly proposed microchannals
present a back-and-forth motion around a reference curve
and the amplitude of the motion decreases gradually along
the flow direction. In the range of x+ > 0.055, for the newly
proposed microchannels, with an increase of x+, the fapp,xRe
has a comparatively gently downward tendency than that
of the rectangular straight microchannel.
(4) Compared with the heat sink R, heat transfer is enhanced
remarkably for the newly proposed heat sinks with periodic
expansion–constriction cross-sections, and the averaged
Nusselt number could be increased by about 1.8 times.
(5) For the newly proposed heat sinks, the thermal entrance
effect is weakened obviously, and the local Nusselt numbers
present small wave motion, which decrease in the expansion
cross-section and increase in the constriction cross-section.
(6) With an increase of pumping power, the total thermal
resistance reduces with a dramatic fall range at low pump-
ing power and the drop speed continues to moderate at high
pumping power, the conductive thermal resistance does not
change, the convective and the capacitive thermal resistance
reduce, and the difference of thermal resistance between the
751
newly proposed heat sinks and the rectangular straight
microchannel heat sink is mainly embodied in the convec-
323 tive term thermal resistance.
0.0005494
3.54
363
0.0003149
Acknowledgements
1.95
The work is supported by the National Natural Science Founda-
tion of China (51176002), the National Basic Research Program of
China (2011CB710704) and the Research Fund for the Doctoral
Program of Higher Education (20111103110009).
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