Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2022) 137: 310
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-022-02469-1

Regular Article

Investigation of the effect of wall geometry change on thermal resistance, temperature uniformity and FOM of a micro-heatsink containing nanofluid flow

¹ Department of Basic Sciences and Humanities, CECOS University of IT and Emerging Sciences, Peshawar, Pakistan
² Department of Mathematics, Islamia College University Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtoon khuwa, Pakistan
³ Department of Mathematics, College of Science and Humanities in Al-Kharj, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, 11942, Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia
⁴ Department of Basic Engineering Science, Faculty of Engineering, Menoufia University, 32511, Shebin El-Kom, Egypt
⁵ Department of Mathematics, College of Science and Humanities, AL-Kharj, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, 11942, Al-Karj, Saudi Arabia
⁶ Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Sciences, Fayoum University, 63514, Fayoum, Egypt
⁷ Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering, Majmaah University, 11952, Al‑Majmaah, Saudi Arabia
⁸ Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Taif University, P.O.Box 11099, 21944, Taif, Saudi Arabia

^e w.ahmad@mu.edu.sa

Received: 30 October 2021
Accepted: 10 February 2022
Published online: 7 March 2022

Abstract

In this paper, the numerical study of the thermal efficiency of a micro-heatsink (MHS) with nanofluid flow of water and alumina has been done. The heatsink (HS) is designed to cool an electronic component. Four different wall models have been studied in MHS. By changing the inlet velocity, the volume percentage of nanoparticles for different HS models, the values of heat transfer coefficient, thermal resistance, temperature uniformity and FOM have been studied. The equations are discretized using the volume control method, and FLUENT software is used for simulation. The results of the study demonstrated that in the case that pin fins were tangential, the lowest temperature and thermal resistance, as well as the best temperature uniformity occurred on the contact surface of the MHS and microchip. Some of the models proposed in this article had better thermal performance compared to similar HSs and could reduce the temperature of microchips to lower levels and improve the performance of electronic devices. Finally, it is suggested that the geometry of connected fin pins be used as heatsink walls.