Conjugated Numerical Study on the Performance of Microchannel Heat Sink Using Al₂O₃/H₂O Nanofluid

High power electronics are widely used in many different areas such as integrated circuit (IC) boards in nuclear reactor control system. Thermal management of electronic devices has been a topic of great interest among many researchers over the last few decades. Microchannel is one of several high-heat-flux removal techniques. Nanofluids with enhanced thermal conductivity and strong temperature- and size-dependent thermal properties are expected to be utilized in microchannels as coolants, which leads to a promising future for such high-heat-flux systems as cooling systems. The performance of the microchannel heat sink (MCHS) using water and Al₂O₃/water nanofluids, with consideration of different substrate materials, is numerically investigated and compared in the present paper to identify the combined effects of working fluids and substrate materials on the thermal resistance, pumping power and temperature distribution on the substrate surface of a heat sink.