Experimental study of heat transfer enhancement in a novel cylindrical heat sink with helical minichannels

What is it about?

This paper presents investigation of heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of water in a novel cylindrical heat sink with helical minichannels experimentally. The heat sinks comprised of 36 minichannels with helix angles of 45, 60 and 90 (straight minichannels) deg, in addition the experimental tests have been carried out in the laminar flow regime (113 < Re < 478). The experimental results indicate that the decrease of helix angle and increase of Reynolds number, enhance the heat transfer of heat sink. However, the pressure drop increases with decreasing of helix angle and the increase of Reynolds number. The maximum enhancement of Nusselt number in helix angle 45 and 60 are 77.4% and 39.5% greater compared to that straight minichannel, respectively; moreover, the overall thermal resistance in highest Reynolds number decreases 50.9% and 32.2% for helix angle of 45 and 60 deg respectively. The highest thermal performance factor is obtained for the helix angle of 45 deg and highest Reynolds number. Finally, two correlations are proposed for friction factor and Nusselt number.

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