Thermal Modeling of a Microchannel Heat Sink

Application ID: 470


Thermal management has become a critical aspect of today’s electronic systems, which often include many high-performance circuits that dissipate large amounts of heat. Many of these components require efficient cooling to prevent overheating. Some of these components, such as processors, require a heat sink with cooling fins that are exposed to forced air from a fan. This discussion develops the model of an aluminum microchannel heat sink whose manifolds work as flow dividers to improve its cooling performance.

This example models the temperature distribution in a microchannel heat sink mounted on an active electronic component. The model includes both nonisothermal fluid flow and an energy balance to describe the conduction and convection.

This model example illustrates applications of this type that would nominally be built using the following products: