MALAWI UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
MALAWI INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING SECTION
GROUP PROJECT REPORT
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PRACTICE II
FROM: MAFUNASE MSUNGAMA (CHE-009-20)
FISKANI MATEMANGA (CHE-023-20)
CECILIA BOTHA (CHE-001-20)
EDSON CHINGALE (CHE-011-20)
CHRISTELLA MACUMI (CHE-005-20)
LUMBANI KHONJE (CHE-020-20)
PRINCE NKHAMBO (CHE-024-20)
FRANK MWAFULIRWA (CHE-026-20)
VINCENT GEORGE (CHE-013-20)
AUSTIN KAPINDU (CHE-019-20)
TO: MR. A. SICHALI
COURSE NAME: CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PRACTICE II
COURSE CODE: CPR-422
DUE DATE: 18TH APRIL 2025
MICRO HEAT EXCHANGER
“Development of a micro-fin heat
sink with integrated peltier”
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
The increasing demand for high performance electronic devices has
placed considerable emphasis on effective thermal management
solutions. In the present era, the trend to product design becomes thinner,
lighter, shorter and smaller. As components become more compact and
power-dense, effective heat dissipation methods are essential to ensure
reliability and longevity.
This report focuses on the innovative design of a micro heat sink featuring
micro fins and phase change materials (PCMs), aimed at enhancing the
rate of heat transfer in electronic devices. A heat sink is a passive heat
exchanger that transfers the heat generated by an electronic or a
mechanical device to a fluid medium which in this case is air, and
dissipated away from the device allowing regulation of the device’s
temperature at optimal levels (Mahendra, Fathima, Mohammed ,
Altafahmed, & Nisar, 2020).
The heat sink has been designed to offer a large surface area-to-volume
ratio through the densely placed multitude of micro fins in contact with
the cooling medium surrounding. Round micro fins enhance absorption
and distribution of heat on the heat sink bed made of a phase change
material. The rectangular micro fins placed on top of the heat exchanger
dissipate heat to the surrounding air allowing the PCM to solidify again.
Phase change materials (PCMs) can absorb large amounts of heat without
significant rise of their temperature during the melting process and
therefore, the use of phase change materials has contributed largely to
the modification of the micro fin heat sink design (Kozak, Abramzon , &
Ziskind, 2013). In addition, placing the PCM in direct contact with the
thermo module also helps maximize heat absorption.
The application of fins has been investigated for different purposes such
as electronics cooling, industrial process and high-power energy
generations. Efficient heat transfer is crucial not only in consumer
electronics but also plays a vital role in a wide range of industrial
applications, where excessive heat can lead to performance degradation
or failure (Mohsen & Hamza, 2023). As industries continually innovate,
developing efficient heat transfer solutions will become increasingly
important to meet technical specifications and environmental regulations.
Despite the advancements in cooling technologies, many existing
solutions struggle to keep pace with the thermal demands of modern
electronic devices. Traditional cooling mechanisms often rely on larger
heat sinks or liquid cooling systems, which may not be feasible in compact
designs. This project addresses the pressing need for a more efficient
cooling method by defining the mechanisms that enhance heat transfer
where the heat sink must be adequately constructed to facilitate heat flow
and prevent electrical device from overheating. In addition, the product
has been designed to be small and lightweight making it suitable for
applications where space is limited.
The primary objective of this project is to investigate and optimize the
specific properties of the proposed micro heat sink design, emphasizing
its ability to enhance heat transfer capabilities under varying conditions.
This includes examining various factors that affect thermal conductivity,
such as material selection, surface area enhancement through micro fins
and the integration of phase change materials to leverage their latent
heat characteristics.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Thermal management of electric components is becoming more and more
demanding due to the constant trend toward system miniaturization
without compromising the performance of the products. For this reason,
thermal management of electric components has become crucial
challenge for the future electronic industry [1].
The only available miniature size cooling system is the Thermoelectric
cooler (TEC) equipped with thermoelectric modules [2]. Thermoelectric
modules are solid-state energy converters that consist of a bunch of
thermocouples wires electrically in series and thermally in parallel and
integrated with two ceramic plates, sandwiched between two
semiconductor materials. The two ceramic plates therefore form the cold
and hot sides of the module. A thermocouple is made of two different
semiconducting thermoelements, which generate thermoelectric cooling
effect (Petltier-seedback effect) when a voltage in appropriate direction
applied through the connection junction. A thermoelectric module
generally works with two heat sinks attached to its hot and cold side
respectively, in order heat transfer and system performance [3].
The TEC can be operated only in certain temperature differences between
cold and hot side depending on the input electric current and the
thermoelectric material properties. To maintain the temperature
difference within electric component temperature operating range, all TEC
operations require a heat sink on the hot side to dissipate heat away from
the TEC. Therefore, heat sink design is one of the most important factors
affecting TEC design and performance. To obtain the best performance, a
TEC must be designed with a heat sink of high thermal conductivity and
low thermal resistance [2].
Currently, the convectional heat sink utilized at the TEC hot side is
composed of metallic fins and a fan to dissipate heat by passively by
conduction and actively by forced convection heat transfer respectively.
Although the thermal resistance of such a unit can be as low as 0.1K/W, it
is usually larger in size and can therefore can only be employed in
operations where space is not restricted [2].
Ping et al. found that the use of PCM can improve the thermal
performance of Li-ion batteries [4]. PCM stores thermal energy during its
melting process and dissipates the heat energy during the solidification
process. However, the improvement is limited due to relatively low
thermal conductivity of materials [4]. The authors concluded that when a
fin structure was placed within the PCM, it was possible to obtain a
significant lower operating temperature and much higher temperature
uniformity whilst achieving compact size.
Paraffin is the most commonly used PCM. However, Paraffin has low
thermal conductivity. Teng and Yu [5] studied the enhancing effect of
mixing Nano-particle with paraffin. It proved that the combination of
graphene with polymers could enhance their thermal conductivity.
Kent et al [6] studied the heat transfer phenomenon during the melting
process of PCM dispersed with graphene Nano-particles. The results
indicated that the addition of graphene Nano-particle enhances the
melting rate of PCM.
Despite the various research, there is an essential gap in the
implementation pf the dissipation of heat from electronic devices whilst
achieving compact size of electrical devices.
Therefore, this paper proposes and explores the adaption of a micro fins
embedded in a Paraffin-graphene phase change material (PCM) heat sink
with rectangular external fins to reduce both the thermal resistance and
heat sink size. This modification aims to address the gap in marrying the
of miniaturization of electronic devices whilst maintaining performance.
THEORY AND PRINCIPLES
The micro heat sink is primarily designed to enhance heat dissipation from
the peltier module by increasing the surface area and promoting heat
exchange. Hence in this case heat is transferred through conduction and
convection. For conduction and convection heat transfer mechanisms the
following equations holds: (Cengel)
dT
(a) Q̇ cond=—K (Fourier’s law of heat conduction)
dx
(b) Q̇ conv¿ hA(Ts—Tf) (Newton’s law of cooling)
The integrated peltier module uses the principles of thermoelectric effect
which involves direct of electrical energy into temperature gradient when
current passes through it. This results in making one side becoming cold
(absorbs heat) and the other side becoming hot (ejects heat) which is
managed by the heat sink.
Peltier module performance is governed by an equation below:
1 2
Q= Π — R I + K ∆T
2
Where: Q= heat transferred, Π = peltier coefficient, R= Electrical
resistance
I= electric current, K= thermal conductivity, ∆ T =
temperature
difference across peltier module
The micro-fin geometry, in this particular, the micro-fins are designed to
optimize air flow and heat ejection and such factors such as fin height
shape, thickness, spacing and material are fundamental to maximize
thermal performance of the micro-heat exchanger. Two shapes of fins
where incorporated which includes rectangular and circular-pin fins. The
figure below, illustrate the type of micro heat exchanger which was
designed.
Rectangula
r fins
Circular-pin
fins
The figure below again illustrates the heat transfer from a peltier module
to the heat sink when it is connected to the system:
Heat ejected by peltier
module is being
absorbed by heat sink
via conduction
mechanism
Heat
absorbtio
n
Heat from the heat sink
through fins is dissipated
into the surrounding via
convection mechanism
For the fins analysis, the general equation for the fins is given as:
dy dT
¿Ac ¿−hp ¿∞¿=0
dx dx
For a long pin fin from rectangular profile:
Q̇ long fin¿ √ hpk A c (T b−T ∞ )
Efficiency of the fins:
tanhm Lc
Straight rectangular fins η fin=
m Lc
tanhm Lc
Pin fins of rectangular profile η fin=
m Lc
Assumptions are that:
It is a steady state operation where transient effects are neglected
and temperature gradients remain constant
Uniform material properties used such as aluminum alloy
Air flow across the fins is assumed to be laminar
Ideal peltier performance
Limitations include:
Micro-fins add some thermal resistance which might limit overall
heat dissipation
Material constraints whereby high material performance are
relatively expensive and hence may not feasible for commercial
manufacturing.
Due to coupling effects, the thermal behavior of the integrated
system might differ from one another in sum of its components
Boundary layer thickness offers limited heat transfer near the
surface of the micro-fins.
METHODOLOGY
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
CONCLUSION
RECOMMENDATIONS
REFERENCES
APPENDICES
