Heat transfer intensification and flow rate control in dynamic micro-heat exchanger

Abstract

Technological advancements to improve flow and heat transfer characteristics in many processes are of great interest. Many high performance systems demand simultaneously the compactness, efficiency and control of heat transfer. In this view, a new concept of micro heat exchanger was proposed for the cooling of electronics devices for which the quality of heat exchange between wall and fluid as well as pumping effect are very critical. In the present work, the ability of a liquid heat exchanger involving a dynamic deformation of one of its walls to cool a microprocessor is investigated. For that purpose, 3-D numerical simulations were performed using commercial software based on the finite volume element in transient regime. Effect of geometrical and actuation parameters has been explored and the ability of such heat exchanger to simultaneously pump the fluid and enhance the heat transfer has been demonstrated. Based on these numerical results, a physical prototype has been designed and realized. First experimental results on the pumping capacity of this prototype have been compared with numerical results. The good agreement obtained allows validating the numerical procedure and thus to be confident in the numerical parametric study presented.