Numerical Investigation of Microchannel Cooling Using Nanocomposites

The power electronics system thermal management is a pressing challenge in the current scenario, as the power ratings of intensive computational resources have increased drastically. This can be accomplished by introducing a heat sink incorporated with microchannel into power electronics, using composite nano coolant as the fluid. In the current work, simulations are carried out with computational fluid dynamics to study the performance of alumina/silica (Al 2 O 3 /SiO 2 ) nanocomponents in water (base fluid) as a composite nanocoolant. These coolants are synthesized at different concentrations of 0.05%, 0.1%, and 0.2% (vol %). ANSYS Fluent 16.2 is used for the numerical simulations with the laminar flow conditions for the different concentrations of coolants. The ranges of mass flow rates are varied from 0.005 to 0.013 kg/s and a constant heat load of 325 W is analyzed for which 7.7% of thermal conductance increment is observed.