Laminar forced convection in a heat generating bi-disperse porous medium channel

Thermal management of heat generating electronics using the Bi-Disperse Porous Medium (BDPM) approach is investigated. The BDPM channel comprises heat generating micro-porous square blocks separated by macro-pore gaps. Laminar forced convection cooling fluid of Pr = 0.7 saturates both the micro- and macro-pores. Bi-dispersion effect is induced by varying the porous block permeability Da I and external permeability Da E through variation in number of blocks N 2. For fixed Re, when 10 −5 ⩽ Da I ⩽ 10 −2, the heat transfer Nu is enhanced four times (from ∼200 to ∼800) while the pressure drop Δ p∗ reduces almost eightfold. For Da I < 10 −5, Nu decreases quickly to reach a minimum at the Mono-Disperse Porous Medium (MDPM) limit ( Da I → 0). Compared to N 2 = 1 case, Nu for BDPM configuration is high when N 2 ≫ 1, i.e., the micro-porous blocks are many and well distributed. The pumping power increase is very small for the entire range of N 2. Distributing heat generating electronics using the BDPM approach is shown to provide a viable method of thermo-hydraulic performance enhancement χ.