Md. Farhad Ismail, M.A.I. Rashid, M. Mahbub

Frontiers in Heat and Mass Transfer (FHMT) 3 - 033002 (2012)

Recent advances in microfabrication technology have resulted in a surge in Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) research for various fluid flow and heat transfer applications. Carbon nanotube (CNT) has been proven to be a potential material for MEMS-based heat sink because of its superior thermal conductivity and good mechanical property. Fabricated onto a silicon substrate to form micro-channels, the multiwall CNT
(MWCNT) based cooling fins show high heat dissipation efficiency. A numerical study of heat transfer and fluid flow in the aligned and staggered CNT based micro pin fins having 650 µm long with hydraulic diameter of ~130 µm using de-ionized water as working fluid has been performed. Average heat transfer coefficients have been obtained for effective heat fluxes ranging from 50 to 130 W and Reynolds numbers from 14 to 160. The influence of various fluids, fluid velocity; fluid conductivity, fin material, fin conductivity, fin geometry  and fin arrangements on cooling effects have also been investigated and compared in this study.