Thermal Management in Microchannel Systems
Summary
Thermal management in microchannel systems addresses the challenge of extracting high heat fluxes from compact devices by directing coolant through arrays of narrow channels. These systems exploit a large surface-to-volume ratio to achieve enhanced convective heat transfer, reducing thermal resistance and maintaining uniform temperatures across critical components. Key design variables include channel geometry, surface enhancements, coolant properties and flow conditions. Recent efforts have focused on passive heat-transfer augmentation—such as pin fins, vortex generators and surface texturing—and on active strategies involving phase-change coolants or electrically driven flows. Numerical tools ranging from computational fluid dynamics to molecular dynamics and machine-learning-based optimisation are now routinely employed to predict conjugate heat transfer, minimise pressure drop penalties and optimise entropy generation. Applications span from high-power electronics and concentrator photovoltaic modules to compact heat exchangers in renewable and hydrogen energy systems, underlining the global significance of microchannel thermal management for energy efficiency and device reliability.
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Thermal Management in Microchannel Systems publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in thermal management in microchannel systems across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Microchannel heat sink: A cooling device comprising multiple parallel micro-scale channels through which coolant flows to remove heat from surfaces.
Nusselt number: A dimensionless parameter expressing the ratio of convective to conductive heat transfer at a fluid–solid interface.
Thermal resistance: A measure of a system’s opposition to heat flow, defined as the temperature difference divided by heat flux.
Nanofluid: A suspension of nanoparticles within a base fluid, engineered to enhance thermal conductivity and convective heat transfer.
Flow maldistribution: Uneven allocation of coolant among parallel channels, which can alter local heat transfer and pressure drop behaviour.
References
- A comprehensive review on microchannel heat sinks for electronics cooling. International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing (2024).
- Flow maldistribution and its effect on the thermal performance of miniaturized devices: A perspective from thermal boundary condition. Energy Reviews (2024).
- Thermal management of high concentrator photovoltaic module using an optimized microchannel heat sink. Energy Nexus (2025).
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