Murilo Ferreira Nicoluzzi, Andres Sarmiento, Amir H. Shooshtari, Hugh Bruck, and Michael M. Ohadi
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
For more information about this article and related research, please contact Prof. Michael M. Ohadi.
Abstract:
As electronic and electromechanical devices continue to shrink while delivering higher power outputs, managing the resulting heat becomes increasingly critical. Applications involving cylindrical heat sources, such as high-power lasers, LEDs, batteries, and DC motors, have often been overlooked in this context. This study investigates the potential of using manifold minichannel heat sinks (MMHS) for cylindrical applications, specifically focusing on their thermal and hydraulic performance in an electrical propulsion motor. A preliminary parametric analysis, based on literature-derived unit cell correlations, was conducted to determine optimal channel and manifold dimensions. Following this, both numerical simulations and experimental tests were performed to assess the system’s performance and benchmark it against that of conventional straight-finned heat sinks (SFHS). The results demonstrated that the MMHS achieved thermal resistances up to 50 % lower than those of SFHS under identical pumping power conditions, for surface heat fluxes reaching 48.1 kW/m2. With 4.8 times more channels that were 2.4 times shorter, the MMHS design exhibited pressure drops up to 17 times lower than the SFHS counterpart when operating at the same mass flow rate. Additionally, for equivalent thermal resistance, the pressure drop in the proposed configuration was reduced by up to a factor of 12, highlighting its superior thermal–hydraulic efficiency and suitability for high-power cylindrical applications.
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