Numerical Investigation of an Electroosmotic Flow (EOF)–Based Microcooling System

Abstract

An electroosmotic flow (EOF)–based heat spreader is studied using the finite-element method and an artificial compressibility–based time-stepping scheme. The heat spreader consists of a microprocessor, microchannels, and a standard plate-fin heat sink. All three components are assumed to be tightly integrated. The microchannels are used to induce EOF, and a conjugate heat transfer analysis is carried out in the presence of the EOF. The heat transfer results from the microprocessor surface to the EOF channel and from the EOF channel to the plate-fin heat sink show clearly that the EOF enhances heat transfer and thus it has the potential to be used as an effective heat spreader mechanism. For the materials and parameters used, the temperature at a section above the microchannel has been reduced by up to 6°C. This is equivalent to reducing the heat-sink fin height by a length equal to about the depth of the microchannel employed.

This work was partially funded by EPSRC grant D070554.