Comparison of thermal-hydraulic performance of singe-phase micro-pin-fin and micro-channel heat sinks

This study compared thermal-hydraulic performance of a single-phase micro-pin-fin heat sink with that of a micro-channel heat sink having the same characteristic dimensions and operating under the same conditions. The objective was to explore the potential of micro-pin-fin heat sinks as an effective alternative to micro-channel heat sinks for dissipating high-heat-fluxes from small areas. The micro-pin-fin heat sink performance, represented by average convection thermal resistance and pressure loss, was determined experimentally. A micro-pin-fin heat sink was fabricated from 110 copper, and contained an array of 1950 staggered square micro-pin-fins with a 200×200 μm
²
cross-section and a 670 μm height. Deionized water was employed as the cooling liquid. Coolant inlet temperatures of 30 °C and 60 °C, and six mass flow rates for each inlet temperature, ranging from 36.7 to 84.5 g/min, were tested. The micro-channel heat sink performance was determined using analytical models. A comparison of the performance showed that the micro-pin-fin heat sink had a lower convection thermal resistance at high cooling liquid flow rates, though it is accompanied by a higher pressure loss.