Thermal Characteristics of Staggered Double-Layer Microchannel Heat Sink

The present work numerically studies the thermal characteristics of a staggered double-layer microchannel heat sink (DLMCHS) with an offset between the upper layer of microchannels and lower layer of microchannels in the width direction, and investigates effects of inlet velocity and geometric parameters including the offset of the two layers of microchannels, vertical rib thickness and microchannel aspect ratio on the thermal resistance of the staggered DLMCHS. The present work found that the thermal resistance of the staggered DLMCHS increases with the increasing offset value when the vertical rib thickness is small, but decreases firstly and then increases as the offset value increases when the vertical rib thickness is large enough. Furthermore, the thermal resistance of the staggered DLMCHS decreases with the increasing offset when the aspect ratio is small, but increases with the increasing offset when the aspect ratio is large enough. Thus, for the DLMCHS with a small microchannel aspect ratio and large vertical rib thickness, the offset between the upper layer of microchannels and the lower layer of microchannels in the width direction is a potential method to reduce thermal resistance and improve the thermal performance of the DLMCHS.