Performance-Enhanced Double Serpentine Minichannel Heat Sink for Phased-Array Radar High-Heat-Flux Chip Cooling

Efficient cooling is necessary for the reliability of phased-array radars for a longer life. With the miniaturization and functionalization of microchips, heat flux generated by these chips also rises sharply. Existing liquid cooling techniques are inadequate to meet the ever-increasing cooling requirements. The present paper examines the potential to enhance the convective heat transfer of minichannel heat sinks (MCHSs). Two types of double serpentine minichannel heat sinks are investigated and compared. The first one is a traditional-design MCHS with plate fins, while the second one is a performance-enhanced MCHS design. Three-dimensional conjugate heat transfer models are developed, and the equations governing flow and energy are solved numerically with ANSYS Icepak. The results indicate that the novel MCHS design is found to significantly reduce both the average pressure drop across the minichannels and the total thermal resistance by up to 51% and 8.5%, respectively. Meanwhile, heat transfer enhancement can be obtained for all the rib oblique angles from 13° to 163°, while lowest average pressure drop can be obtained near 90°. The present study provides a new choice for researchers to design more effective MCHSs for the cooling of modern phased-array radar high-heat-flux chips.