Improvement of flow and heat transfer performance of microchannels with different ribs using topology optimization

Microchannel is an important technology to solve the heat dissipation problems associated with the high integration of electronic devices based on forced liquid-cooling. In this work, a topology optimization method is introduced to generate adaptive rib shape and arrangement in the straight microchannel, wavy microchannel and microchannel with fan-shaped reentrant cavities. Numerical simulations demonstrate that topology optimized ribs can promote heat transfer effectively. Especially in the wavy microchannel, the average temperature of channel base with the topology optimized ribs improves 27.0%, 30.1% and 71.4% in comparison with those with square ribs, circular ribs and no ribs, respectively. Pressure drops of the microchannel with topology optimized ribs are 64%, 45% and 36% lower than those of the microchannel with square ribs, and 51%, 39%, 28% lower than those of the microchannel with circular ribs, when channel shapes are straight, wavy and fan-shaped reentrant cavities, respectively. The above results are attributed to the shape and arrangement of topology optimized ribs, which promotes fluid mixing and reduces low-velocity regions. Microchannels with topology optimized ribs always possess superior flow and heat transfer performance for all channel shapes. The wavy microchannel with topology optimized ribs owns the best overall performance, which is due to the excellent adaptation of topology optimized ribs in the wavy microchannel.