Flow and Heat Transfer Characteristics of Liquid Metal Nanofluid in Microchannel

Abstract

With the development of miniaturization and integration, electronic equipment needs to address efficient thermal management under high heat flow. Microchannel has broad application prospects in microelectronic device cooling. Further improving the heat transfer performance of heat sink and realizing lower pump power consumption has been an enduring topic. In this study, the liquid metal nanofluid (LMNF) microchannel cooling technology is proposed. The influence mechanism of LMNF parameter and microchannel structure on flow and heat transfer performance are studied through the simulations and experiments. The working fluid consists of Ga67In20.5Sn12.5 and copper nanoparticle (NP). Comprehensive performance of rectangular and wavy microchannel is analyzed in comparison. The results indicate that LMNF shows excellent heat transfer performance. The volume fraction of NP is the key parameter affecting heat transfer performance. Combined with the economic analysis, adding 1 ~ 3vol% NP into the LM is more preferable. Moreover, the Raccoon structure with 0.05 mm amplitude performs superior heat transfer performance when the wavelength is set as 2.5 mm or 5 mm. In this study, the preferred parameters of working fluid and microchannel geometry are proposed, meanwhile the heat transfer correlation is fitted, which provides a theoretical guidance for optimizing micro heat sink.

Keywords: liquid metal, nanofluid, microchannel, performance enhancement