An efficient cooling system is necessary for the reliability and safety of modern microchips for a longer life. As microchips become smaller and more powerful, the heat flux generated by these chips per unit area also rises sharply. Traditional cooling techniques are inadequate to meet the recent cooling requirements of microchips. To meet the current cooling demand of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices and microchips, microchannel heat sink (MCHS) technology is the latest invention, one that can dissipate a significant amount of heat because of its high surface area to volume ratio. This study provides a concise summary of the design, material selection, and performance parameters of the MCHSs that have been developed over the last few decades. The limitations and challenges associated with the different techniques employed by researchers over time to enhance the thermal efficiency of microchannel heat sinks are discussed. The effects on the thermal enhancement factor, Nusselt number, and pressure drop at different Reynold numbers in passive techniques (flow obstruction) i.e., ribs, grooves, dimples, and cavities change in the curvature of MCHSs, are discussed. This study also discusses the increase in heat transfer using nanofluids and how a change in coolant type also significantly affects the thermal performance of MCHSs by obstructing flow. This study provides trends and useful guidelines for researchers to design more effective MCHSs to keep up with the cooling demands of power electronics.

The microchannel heat sink (MCHS) is a robust cooling technique that ensures the efficiency and reliability of compact electronic devices by dissipating a large amount of heat because of its high surface area-to-volume ratio. This study proposes a novel modification of the pin-fins geometry in MCHS, and geometric optimization using response surface methodology (RSM) to build a low thermal resistant MCHS with enhanced heat transfer efficiency with low-pressure drop. Three dimensional numerical simulations using ANSYS FLUENT 2021 R2 are performed on three pin-fins configurations, i.e., MC-BW (pins mounted transversely to the bottom wall), MC-SW (pins mounted transversely to the side wall), and MC-Mixed (pins mounted transversely to the bottom and side wall). The thermal and flow characteristics are investigated using a laminar conjugate heat transfer model at Reynolds numbers 100–1000. Results show that introducing pin-fins significantly enhances heat dissipation as it continuously breaks the boundary layer and generates flow separation downstream of the pin-fins, which enhances fluid mixing and increases heat transfer augmentation inside MCHS. Among different configurations, the MC-Mixed gives the highest improvement of 50% in the convective heat transfer coefficient at Re = 1000. The highest thermal enhancement factor of η = 1.4 is obtained for the MC-Mixed configuration at Re = 600. For the base wall pin fin configuration RSM yields optimized values of 2.50 mm, 0.25 mm, and 0.045 mm for transverse pitch, longitudinal pitch, and diameter of pin respectively, and for the mixed pin fin configuration it gives 1.0 mm, 0.150 mm, 0.035 mm and 1.250 mm values for transverse pitch, longitudinal pitch, diameter of pin and pitch of side wall pins respectively for the maximum heat transfer and minimum pressure drop.

Heat exchangers are widely recognized as eco-friendly devices that transfer heat between two or more fluids without mixing. Double Pipe Heat Exchangers (DPHE) are used in many industrial applications such as power generation, chemical processing, HVAC, and renewable energy systems. Traditional DPHEs are simple and reliable, however, they often face limitations in heat transfer. Improving the thermal performance of DPHE can significantly enhance the operational efficiency of thermal energy systems. This study presents a novel fin arrangement to the traditional DPHE using different diamond-shaped fins to improve its thermal performance. The thermal and hydraulic properties of DPHE with different diamond-shaped fin configurations are investigated using CFD analysis. The optimization process is carried out using the Response Surface Method (RSM) for optimal diamond-shaped fin design. The results indicate that novel diamond-shaped fins improve thermal performance, particularly at high mass flow rates. The thermal enhancement factor (TEF), overall heat transfer coefficient, and pressure drop are used to evaluate the thermal performance of DPHE. The diamond-shaped fins exhibit a 55% increase in overall heat transfer coefficient compared to conventional DPHE. The TEF for diamond-shaped fin configurations is higher than 1 with a maximum value of 1.63 for DPHE-HF45 depicting a 63% increase in thermal enhancement. The optimization results show that the optimal fin design achieves a desirability of 81.3%, with a pressure drop of 870.726 Pa and an overall heat transfer coefficient of 2199.85 W/m ² K at a mass flow rate of 2.711 lit/min.

The vortex tube is an eco-friendly and maintenance-free cooling device widely used in industries that divide high-pressure gas into hot and cold streams without the use of refrigerants or moving parts. Despite its benefits, the vortex generator induces aeroacoustics noise that poses a risk to human ears. Limited research exists on aeroacoustics noise levels and the impact of hot outlet valve length on the performance of the vortex tube. The present study explores the effects of inlet nozzles on flow-induced noise using the Broadband Noise Source Model and the hot outlet valve length on the Coefficient of Performance ( COP ). A three-dimensional computational domain has been generated with a single vortex chamber having six nozzles and validated against literature experimental data. This study replaces the vortex chamber with a different number of inlet nozzles and analyzes its impact on flow-induced noise. Hot outlet valve length variations are studied for their influence on COP . The effect of pressures and the length of hot outlet valve on the vortex tube performance is also investigated. Results indicate that nozzle outlets near the cold orifice are a critical region for elevated noise levels and increasing with number of inlet nozzles, reaching a maximum Acoustic Power Level of 161.3 dB for six nozzles in radial direction. The Acoustic Power Level increases from 150 dB to 170 dB when the number of nozzles increases from 2 to 6 in axial direction. COP calculations show a maximum of 0.37 at 0.6 cold mass fraction and 6 bar pressure. Moreover, the pressure ratio ( ) shows the highest COP for 18mm hot outlet valve length when exceeds 4.7 bar.

An efficient cooling system is necessary for the reliability and safety of the modern microchips for longer life. As microchips become smaller and more powerful, the heat flux generated by these chips per unit area also rises sharply. Traditional cooling techniques are inadequate to meet the recent cooling requirements of microchips. To meet the current cooling demand of Microelectromechanical devices (MEMS) devices and microchips, microchannel heat sinks (MCHS) technology is the latest invention that can dissipate a significant amount of heat because of its high surface area to volume ratio. This study provides a concise summary of design, material selection, and performance parameters of MCHS that are developed over the last few decades. The limitations and challenges associated with different techniques employed by researchers over time to enhance the thermal efficiency of microchannel heat sinks are discussed. The effects on the thermal enhancement factor, Nusselt number, and pressure drop at different Reynold numbers, in passive techniques (flow obstruction) i.e. ribs, grooves, dimples, and cavities change in curvature of MCHS are discussed. This study also discusses the increase in heat transfer using nanofluids and how change in coolant type also significantly affects the thermal performance of MCHS by obstructing flow. This study provides trends and useful guidelines for researchers to design more effective MCHS to keep up with the cooling demands of power electronics.