Laminar Flow Forced Convection Heat Transfer Behavior of Phase Change Material Fluid in Microchannels With Staggered Pins

Microchannels have been extensively studied for electronic cooling applications ever since they were found to be effective in removing high heat flux from small areas. Many configurations of microchannels have been studied and compared for their effectiveness in heat removal. However, there is little data available in the literature on the use of pins in microchannels. Staggered pins in microchannels have higher heat removal characteristics because of the continuous breaking and formation of the boundary layer, but they also exhibit higher pressure drop because pins act as flow obstructions. This paper presents numerical results of two characteristic staggered pins (square and circular) in microchannels. The heat transfer performance of a single phase fluid in microchannels with staggered pins, and the corresponding pressure drop characteristics are also presented. An effective specific heat capacity model was used to account for the phase change process of PCM fluid. Comparison of heat transfer characteristics of single phase fluid and PCM fluid are made for two pins geometries for three different Reynolds numbers. Circular pins were found to be more effective in terms of heat transfer by exhibiting higher Nusselt number. Circular pin microchannels were also found to have lower pressure drop compared to the square pin microchannels.