Effects of Porous Filling and Nanofluids on Heat Transfer in Intel i9 CPU Minichannel Heat Sinks

The miniaturization and high integration of modern electronic devices have intensified thermal management challenges. Therefore, developing efficient heat sinks has become crucial to ensuring the stability and performance of high-performance CPUs. Previous studies have not considered the thermally demanding Intel i9 CPU; the current study targets this processor and explores the advantages of more complex minichannel path designs. In addition, this work investigates the enhanced heat transfer performance by integrating metal foams into microchannels. Using a computational approach, this study evaluates the thermal performance of uni-path, dual-path, and staggered-path (SP) minichannel heat sinks with water, Al2O3, and CuO nanofluids at varying Reynolds numbers. The impact of aluminum foam filling has also been examined. Results confirm that higher Reynolds numbers enhance fluid flow, reduce heat sink temperature, and improve temperature uniformity. Among the configurations, the SP heat sink combined with Al2O3 nanofluid achieves the best trade-off between cooling efficiency and energy consumption. While lower porosity foam and higher nanofluid volume fractions enhance heat transfer, they also increase flow resistance, leading to higher energy consumption. Due to its high specific heat capacity, Al2O3 nanofluid outperforms CuO, with optimal cooling observed at a 3–4% volume fraction. The performance evaluation criterion (PEC) captures the trade-off between heat dissipation and energy efficiency. It shows that the SP model with high-porosity aluminum foam and Al2O3 nanofluid turns out to be the most effective design. This combination maximizes cooling efficiency while minimizing excessive energy costs, demonstrating superior thermal management for high-performance microelectronic devices.