Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Flow and thermal characteristics of offset branching network

2009; Elsevier BV; Volume: 49; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.ijthermalsci.2009.07.019

1778-4166

Xiangqi Wang, Peng Xu, Arun S. Mujumdar, Christopher Yap,

Greenhouse Technology and Climate Control

Inspired by natural branching systems such as tree canopy, leaves, plant root, river basins, mammalian circulatory and respiratory systems, branching networks have been suggested for electronic component cooling. However, previous studies of tree-like branching networks have focused on symmetric structures although most natural tree-like branching systems are asymmetric. Furthermore, leaf-like branching networks have been rarely used and discussed. A three-dimensional model was formulated to compare the flow and heat transfer characteristics of symmetric/asymmetric tree-like branching networks and symmetric/asymmetric (offset) leaf-like branching networks. Results show that the influence of the asymmetry is very small for tree-like branching network at low branching number. Offset in leaf-like branching networks can reduce pressure drop significantly while maintaining maximum temperature difference between the inlet and outlet of the flowing fluid.