EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF AN ULTRA-HIGH PERFORMANCE, 3-D MICRO CONVECTIVE HEAT SINK WITH A CONSTRUCTAL PLUMBING SYSTEM

摘要

This paper presents the fabrication and results of an experimental study carried out to determine the thermal fluid performance of a 3-D, active micro convective heat sink having high surface-to-volume ratio geometry. The heat sink consists of an array of elemental units arranged in parallel. Each unit is constructed as a network of nearly fractal geometry. The design of each unit uses the constructal method to minimize the point-to-point temperature difference within the heat sink and Murray's Law to minimize pressure drop across the device. One elemental unit of the heat sink was manufactured using the tape casting fabrication method with thick silver film techniques. An experiment was conducted using water as the coolant under laminar flow conditions to obtain the pressure drop and heat transfer characteristics of the 3-D micro convective heat sink. The results were then compared with theoretical calculations.