A comprehensive review of thermal enhancement techniques in microchannel heat exchangers and heat sinks

A novel framework has been employed in various contemporary studies, to enhance heat transfer in heat exchangers through microchannels. A microchannel heat exchanger (MCHE) is a miniature heat exchanger that can address issues such as rapid increases in heat flux in small spaces, storage space constraints, and the need for compact, lightweight heat exchangers. Four perspectives were used in the qualitative literature analysis: working fluid, flow disruption, microchannel material, and microchannel cross section. The findings revealed that various working fluids (air, water, refrigerants, oil, and nanofluids) are employed in microchannel heat exchangers (MCHE) and microchannel heat sinks (MCHS); however, almost all studies have shown that nanofluids as working fluids in microchannels exhibit better thermal behavior than other fluids. Enhanced thermal performance can be achieved by adding flow disrupters (wavy channels, ribs, dimples, and baffles). Based on several applications, various materials, including aluminum (Al), copper (Cu), silicon (Si), stainless steel, silver (Ag), and various other metals, are used for MCHE & MCHS construction. However, owing to the thermal property limitations and oxidation behavior of metallic materials researchers have used ceramic microchannels to avoid these problems. The outcomes of the present review suggest that microchannel-based applications have come a long way away, but there are still barriers to addressing the needs of heat transfer in modern industries, such as the prevalence of the use of conventional rectangular shapes, water-based working fluids, metals as construction materials, and numerical techniques. Based on a literature survey, the authors suggest that rectangular wavy microchannels made of ceramic material using Al 2 O 3 –water as a nanofluid have better hydrothermal behavior than any other microchannel. Graphical abstract