A numerical and experimental investigation of flow maldistribution in a micro-channel heat sink

A study of flow mal-distribution in U-type micro-channel configuration is presented. Numerical simulations indicate that flow deceleration and associated pressure recovery in the inlet header lead to flow separation and recirculation which cause oscillations in channel-wise mass flow distribution. Increase in flow resistance by decrease in channel depth, width or number of channels or increase in channel length, results in a more uniform distribution. Mal-distribution increases at high flow rate or low viscosity due to the dominance of inertial phenomena. Experiments performed on a 25-channel setup illustrate that small manufacturing variations in channel dimensions introduce random fluctuations in flow distribution. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.