Electronic component cooling enhancement using nanofluids in a radial flow cooling system

摘要

This paper presents an initial investigation into the potential use of nanofluids in electronic equipment cooling devices. Continually increasing power densities per electronic device are requiring more innovative techniques of heat dissipation. The work presented in this paper numerically investigates the heat transfer enhancement capabilities of coolants with suspended metallic nanoparticles (in this case Al_2O_3 dispersed in water) inside a radial flow microelectronic cooling device. Steady, laminar radial flow of a nanofluid in a simplified axis-symmetric configuration with axial coolant injection has been considered. As this initial work on the use of nanofluids is purely numerical, the 'single phase fluid' approach was adopted in order to be able to study the thermal behaviours of nanofluids in this present application. Results clearly indicate that considerable increases in heat removal capabilities are possible in radial flow cooling systems with the use of nanofluids. For example, for a nanoparticle volume fraction <Φ> of 5%, increases of 30% in the average wall heat transfer coefficients for the Water/Al_2O_3 nanofluid are found. In general, it was noticed that local heat transfer increases with Φ and Reynolds number and decreases with an increase in channel height (distance separating the impinging jet nozzle and the heated plate). Local heat transfer was also noticed to change noticeably with the behaviour of the hydrodynamic field (i.e. flow separation areas). Although considerable increases in heat transfer capabilities are found, associated increases in wall shear stresses are also noticed.