Thermal Performance Modeling of Micro Pin-Fin Heat Sinks for Aircraft Thermal Management

Microscale pin-fin heat exchangers with hydraulic diameters on the order of 100 µm are modeled using computational fluid dynamics and heat transfer. Flow and thermal approximations are discarded in favor of three-dimensional solutions of the Navier-Stokes and energy equations in both solid and liquid domains. Predicted temperature gradients and pressure drops compare well with published experimental data. The modeling technique is extended to a wide parametric study of micro-heat exchanger performance. Performance curves are presented for the engineering design of cooling components. A discussion of the dominating and relevant thermal transport mechanisms in both fluids and solid clarifies the routes to optimizing heat transfer in these small scale heat exchangers.