Laminar forced convection in a heat generating bi-disperse porous medium channel

Thermal management of heat generating electronics using the Bi-Disperse Porous Medium (BDPM) approach is investigated. The BDPM channel comprises heat generating micro-porous square blocks separated by macro-pore gaps. Laminar forced convection cooling fluid of Pr = 0.7 saturates both the micro- and macro-pores. Bi-dispersion effect is induced by varying the porous block permeability DaI and external permeability DaE through variation in number of blocks N2. For fixed Re, when 10-5 ≤ DaI ≤ 10-2, the heat transfer Nu is enhanced four times (from ∼200 to ∼800) while the pressure drop Δp reduces almost eightfold. For DaI < 10-5, Nu decreases quickly to reach a minimum at the Mono-Disperse Porous Medium (MDPM) limit (Da I → 0). Compared to N2 = 1 case, Nu for BDPM configuration is high when N2 ≫ 1, i.e., the micro-porous blocks are many and well distributed. The pumping power increase is very small for the entire range of N2. Distributing heat generating electronics using the BDPM approach is shown to provide a viable method of thermo-hydraulic performance enhancement χ. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.