Volume 13: Low Carbon Cities and Urban Energy Systems: Part II

Study on the thermal and fluid behaviors in a conventional wavy channel and a curve-wave channel Liyu Zhang, Lichuan Wei, Xin Cui, Zhao Lu, Xi Yang, Liwen Jin

Abstract

The development of the electronic devices with the growing heat generation raises the high requirement for heat dissipation devices. Extensive research has been carried out for enhancing convective heat transfer rate in various heatsinks. The curve-wave channel proposed in the authors’ previous work exhibits the superior thermal performance with a slight increase in pressure drop compared with a smooth-curve channel. In the present study, the thermal behaviors, the overall performance and the secondary flow characteristics in a curve-wave channel and a conventional wavy channel are numerically investigated and compared.
The results show that the thermal performance of the conventional wavy channel is improved and the maximum temperature on the heated wall can be lowered 1.2-3.6 K after introducing the overall curvature. However, it is also noted that the overall performance factor decreases while Reynolds number grows, in other words, the superiority of the curve-wave channel is more obvious at small Reynolds number. The analysis of the secondary flow characteristics shows that the stronger secondary flow is generated in the curve-wave channel regardless of Reynolds number, which indicates the overall curvature has an important effect on the flow in the wavy channel.

Keywords heat dissipation, curve-wave channel, thermal behaviors, overall performance, secondary flow