Experimental Study of Pressure Drop and Heat Transfer in a Single-Phase Micropin-Fin Heat Sink

Abstract The pressure drop and heat transfer characteristics of a single-phase micropin-fin heat sink were investigated experimentally. Fabricated from 110 copper, the heat sink contained an array of 1950 staggered square micropin fins with 200×200μm2 cross section by 670μm height. The ratios of longitudinal pitch and transverse pitch to pin-fin equivalent diameter are equal to 2. De-ionized water was employed as the cooling liquid. A coolant inlet temperature of 25°C, and two heat flux levels, qeff″=50W∕cm2 and qeff″=100W∕cm2, defined relative to the platform area of the heat sink, were tested. The inlet Reynolds number ranged from 93 to 634 for qeff″=50W∕cm2, and from 127 to 634 for qeff″=100W∕cm2. The measured pressure drop and temperature distribution were used to evaluate average friction factor and local averaged heat transfer coefficient/Nusselt number. Predictions of the previous friction factor and heat transfer correlations that were developed for low Reynolds number (Re<1000) single-phase flow in short pin-fin arrays were compared to the present micropin-fin data. Moores and Joshi’s friction factor correlation (2003, “Effect of Tip Clearance on the Thermal and Hydrodynamic Performance of a Shrouded Pin Fin Array,” ASME J. Heat Transfer, 125, pp. 999–1006) was the only one that provided acceptable predictions. Predictions from the other friction factor and heat transfer correlations were significantly different from the experimental data collected in this study. These findings point to the need for further fundamental study of single-phase thermal/fluid transport process in micropin-fin arrays for electronic cooling applications.