Local hydrothermal characteristics and temperature uniformity improvement of microchannel heat sink with non-uniformly distributed grooves

In order to improve the temperature uniformity of bottom walls, a novel design of microchannel heat sink with From-Sparse-To-Dense embowed grooves (MC-FSTD) was proposed as well as a comparative one with From-Dense-To-Sparse embowed grooves (MC-FDTS). The local hydrothermal characteristics and temperature distribution variance of bottom wall of microchannel heat sinks were numerically investigated for Reynolds number (Re) ranging from 100 to 800. The results showed that the denser grooves led to lower flow velocity, lower local friction factor and higher local pressure as well as the lower bottom wall temperature (Tw) and higher local Nusselt number (Nuz). The local Nusselt number and the bottom wall temperature of MC-FSTD were 2.17 times higher and 9.1K lower than that of MC-SC at z = 10 mm, respectively. MC-FSTD also had the most uniform temperature of the bottom wall and the corresponding temperature variance was 6.42 times lower than that of MC-SC at Re = 795.38. The heat transfer entropy generation rate and the total entropy generation rate of MC-FSTD were also the lowest with an acceptable friction entropy generation rate. Finally, the effects of the decreasing magnitude (Li) of the distance between two adjacent grooves on the local hydrothermal characteristics and temperature uniformity of MC-FSTD were explored and the total entropy generation rate was further reduced to 5.22 × 10−4 W/K at Li = 0.015 mm and Re = 795.38. [Display omitted] •A novel design of microchannel heat sink was developed by arranging From-Sparse-To-Dense embowed grooves on channel sidewalls.•Temperature of bottom walls of microchannel heat sinks was reduced by new designs.•Temperature variance of bottom walls of microchannel heat sinks was analyzed.•Temperature uniformity of bottom walls of microchannel heat sinks was enhanced.•Effects of the grooves arrangement on the temperature uniformity of bottom walls of new designs were studied.