ORIGINAL

H. M. Soliman M. M. Rahman
Analytical solution of conjugate heat transfer and optimum
congurations of at-plate heat exchangers with circular ow channels
Received: 25 November 2004 / Accepted: 6 September 2005 / Published online: 11 November 2005
Springer-Verlag 2005
Abstract An analytical solution is developed for conju-
gate heat transfer in a at-plate heat exchanger with
circular embedded channels. The analysis was carried
out for fully-developed conditions in the circular tube
and uniform heat ux at the plate boundary. The results
are applicable to cooling channels that are 50 lm or
more in diameter with a large lengthdiameter ratio. The
thermal characteristics of the heat exchanger have been
examined for a wide range of the relevant independent
parameters and optimum designs for three dierent sets
of constraints have been presented. It was found that the
overall thermal resistance increases with the depth of the
tube from the heated surface, as well as the spacing
between the tubes. For a given combination of tubes
depth and spacing, there is a certain tube diameter at
which the thermal resistance attains a minimum value.
List of symbols
A
n
, B
n
, C
n
, D
n
Coefcients in the series solution, n = 0,
1, 2, 3,..., N
B
0
, C
0
Coefcients in the series solution
C
p
Specic heat, J/kg K
f Friction coefcient
H Depth of the tube fromthe top surface, m
H
*
Dimensionless tube depth
k Thermal conductivity, W/m K
L Thickness of the plate, m
Length of the plate, m
M Number of tubes
_ m
T
Total mass ow rate, kg/s
N Number of terms in the series
P Pressure, Pa
P
T
Pumping power, W
q Input heat ux at top surface, W/m
2
q
i
Heat ux at the solid-uid interface, W/
m
2
R Dimensionless radial coordinate
r Radial coordinate, m
r
o
radius of the tube, m
r
o
*
Dimensionless tube radius
Re Reynolds number
T Temperature, K
U Dimensionless axial velocity of the uid
u Axial velocity of the uid, m/s
u
m
Mean axial velocity of the uid, m/s
W Half of the spacing between tubes cen-
tre-to-centre, m
W
*
Dimensionless spacing between the
tubes centre-to-centre
W
T
Overall width of the plate, m
X, Y, Z Dimensionless (Cartesian) coordinates
x, y, z Cartesian coordinates, m
Greek Letters
C Overall thermal resistance, K/W
c Geometry-dependent part of thermal
resistance, K/W
c
*
Dimensionless thermal resistance
h Dimensionless temperature
l Dynamic viscosity, N s/m
2
q Fluid density, kg/m
3
/ Angular coordinate, rad
Subscripts
1 region 1
H. M. Soliman (&)
Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering,
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3T 5V6, Canada
E-mail: hsolima@cc.umanitoba.ca
Tel.: +1-204-4749307
Fax: +1-204-2757507
M. M. Rahman
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
University of South Florida, Tampa,
FL 33620, USA
Heat Mass Transfer (2006) 42: 596607
DOI 10.1007/s00231-005-0031-4
2 region 2
3 region 3
ave average
b bulk
f uid
i soliduid interface
in heat-exchanger inlet
out heat-exchanger outlet
s solid
1 Introduction
A continuous improvement in the methods of heat re-
moval is needed to satisfy fast growing circuit integra-
tion in electronics equipment. The demand for faster
circuits and increased capacity has led to both increases
in the power dissipation of each circuit, and an increase
in the number of circuits per unit volume. The net result
has been increasing power densities at the chip, module,
and system level of packaging. Since the expected life
and reliability of a solid-state device depends very
strongly on its operating temperature, an ecient active
cooling system is needed to maintain the required tem-
perature limit. Although a number of dierent tech-
niques [1] could potentially provide adequate cooling,
microchannels or microtubes embedded in a solid sub-
strate oer particular promise due to their simplicity and
comparatively lower thermal resistance.
A compact, water-cooled, heat sink that was an
integral part of a silicon substrate was rst demonstrated
by Tuckerman and Pease [2], [3]. Philips [4] reported
more experimental data using indium phosphide as the
substrate material for the same kind of heat exchanger.
A number of other studies have demonstrated the
application of microchannel heat sinks.
Wang and Peng [5] reported experimental data for
single-phase forced convection of water or methanol in
rectangular microchannels. The hydraulic diameter of
these channels ranged from 311 to 747 lm. A fully-
developed turbulent convection regime was found to
occur at Reynolds number over 1,0001,500 depending
on liquid temperature, ow rate, and channel size. In
two later studies, Peng and Peterson [6, 7] did further
measurements to characterize the eects of thermo-
physical properties and geometrical parameters. Tso and
Mahulikar [8] studied laminarturbulent transition for
convective heat transfer in microchannels and charac-
terized the available test data using Brinkman number in
addition to Reynolds number. Bowers and Mudawar [9]
showed that a very high heat transfer rate can be
achieved by employing phase change in microchannels.
However, the instability of the system when operating
close to critical heat ux point makes this scheme
impractical for engineering applications.
In addition to experimental measurements, a number
of theoretical investigations have been performed to
understand the fundamentals of conjugate heat transfer
in microchannels of rectangular cross-section. Weisburg
et al. [10] studied thermal resistance of cooling channels
integrated into silicon chips. A design procedure for the
selection of channel dimensions in conformity with
operational constraints was found for a at-plate heat
exchanger consisting of rectangular channels fabricated
in a silicon wafer and capped with a Pyrex plate. Am-
batipudi and Rahman [11] presented a three-dimen-
sional numerical simulation model for conjugate heat
transfer in rectangular microchannels. The Nusselt
number variations with Reynolds number, channel as-
pect ratio, and spacing between adjacent channels were
investigated. Fisher and Torrance [12] numerically
studied conjugate heat transfer in solids with cooling
passages of general, convex cross-section. The eect of
channel boundary curvature on overall heat transfer was
quantied. Optimum channel shapes for given pressure
drop or pump work were determined.
Fedorov and Viskanta [13] solved numerically the
conventional Navier-Stokes and energy equations for
laminar ow in rectangular micro-channels with conju-
gate heat transfer in the solid wall of the heat sink. They
demonstrated that their theoretical results were capable
of good agreement with the experimental results of
Kawano et al. [14] for pressure drop and heat transfer in a
heat exchanger with silicon microchannels of rectangular
cross-section with a hydraulic diameter of about 87 lm.
A number of studies have been reported on uid ow
and heat transfer in circular microtubes. Yu et al. [15]
performed an experimental investigation to determine
convective heat transfer characteristics of microtubes
with diameters of 19, 52, and 102 lm at Reynolds
number greater than 2,500. It was found that Nusselt
number compared well with large tube correlation at low
values but the rate of increase of Nusselt number with
Reynolds number was found to be signicantly larger
than predicted by the correlation. Adams et al. [16]
experimentally investigated turbulent convective heat
transfer in microtubes with diameters of 760 and
1,090 lm. Water was used as the test uid. Based on the
test data, a new correlation for heat transfer in mi-
crotubes was proposed. Adams et al. [17] extended the
research to non-circular tubes and found that standard
turbulent single-phase Nusselt-type correlations can be
applied only when the hydraulic diameter is larger than
1,020 lm.
Mala and Li [18] reported experimental data for the
pressure drop during laminar ow of water in microtu-
bes with diameters ranging from 50 to 254 lm. They
used fused silica and stainless steel tubes in their tests.
For fused silica, the measured pressure gradient agreed
well with the Poiseuille ow theory for tube diameters of
101 lm or higher up to Re=2,000. With the stainless
steel tubes, good agreement was obtained between
measurements and the standard theory for tube diame-
ters of 152 lm or higher up to Re=2,000.
The focus of the present study is to analyze conjugate
heat transfer in at-plate heat exchangers with circular
597
ow channels. This kind of heat exchanger is used in a
wide variety of applications from electronic cooling to
snow-melting systems on pavements [19]. The vast
majority of previous investigations on at-plate heat
sinks have dealt with rectangular channels, while only a
limited number of analyses were directed to circular
channels [20, 21]. Therefore, a detailed theoretical study
is essential to understand the heat transfer characteris-
tics in such a heat exchanger, to examine the eects of
geometry and property parameters on its performance,
and to explore methods for determining the optimum
geometry for dierent situations.
Based on the information available in the literature,
the conventional equations for the conservation of
momentum and energy will be applicable provided that
the channel diameter is of the order of 50 lm or
higher. Moreover, if we restrict the analysis to laminar
ow, the results will be applicable to tubes of any size,
and can be potentially used for a wide range of
applications. The assumption of fully developed con-
ditions necessitates a large length-to-diameter ratio of
the ow channels.
2 Analysis
We consider a at-plate heat exchanger with circular,
longitudinal channels for uid ow, as shown in Fig. 1.
A uniform heat ux is applied at the top surface of the
plate and the bottom surface is assumed to be insulated.
The overall width of the plate is W
T
, thickness is L, and
length (in the uid ow direction) is . There are M
equally-spaced channels within the plate, each with a
radius r
0
.
Because of symmetry, we can perform the analysis by
considering only a cut-section of the heat exchanger, as
shown in Fig. 2. The depth of the tube from the heated
surface (top boundary) is H and the width of the cut-
section in W. The convective heat transfer is analyzed
using a cylindrical coordinate system attached to the axis
of the tube. The conduction within the solid wall of the
heat exchanger has been analyzed using a Cartesian
coordinate system attached to the bottom left corner of
the cut-section, as shown in Fig. 2, with z being the
coordinate in the ow direction. Except for the uniform
heating at the top boundary and convection at the tube
wall, all other exterior surfaces are at adiabatic condi-
tion because of symmetry. The cross-sectional geometry
is dened by three dimensionless quantities: H
*
(= H/
L), W
*
(= W/L), and r
0
*
(= r
0
/W).
2.1 The uid domain
The following assumptions have been used to simplify
the problem for the analysis: (1) constant uid and solid
properties, (2) laminar, fully-developed ow (hydrody-
namically and thermally) in the tube, and (3) negligible
axial conduction in the substrate and the uid. The
applicable momentum equation in dimensionless form is
1
R
d
dR
R
dU
dR
_ _

1
2
f Re; 1
where, R=r/r
0
, U=u/u
m
, f=r
0
(dP/dz)/(q u
m
2
), and Re
= 2q u
m
r
0
/l. In (1), the pressure gradient, (dP/dz), has
been assumed to be constant because of the fully-
developed condition. The solution of (1) is
U f Re1 R
2
=8: 2
Substituting this velocity prole in the conservation-of-
mass equation,
_
1
0
URdR 1=2; we get the well-known
result, fRe=16. Therefore, the velocity prole becomes
U 21 R
2
: 3
The energy equation can be expressed in the follow-
ing dimensionless form:
1
R
@
@R
R
@h
f
@R
_ _

1
R
2
@
2
h
f
@/
2

2
p
_ _
W

U; 4
where, h=(T T
b
)/ (q L/k
f
). In formulating (4), the
fully-developed condition T
f
/z =dT
b
/dz=2 q W/(p q
C
p
r
0
2
u
m
) was applied. A solution for (4) can be written
in the following form:
h
f
A
0

W

p
_ _
R
2
1
R
2
4
_ _

N
n1
A
n
R
n
cosn/
_ _
: 5
Fig. 1 Schematic diagram
of the heat exchanger
598
Solution (5) satises the symmetry conditions h
f
/ /
=0 at /=0 and /=p, as well as the requirement that h
f
is nite at R=0. Imposing the condition that:
h
b

2
p
_
p
0
_
1
0
RUh
f
dRd/ 0;
we get: A
0
=7 W
*
/(24 p). Finally, we have
h
f

W

p
_ _
R
2

R
4
4

7
24

N
n1
A
n
R
n
cosn/
_ _
: 6
2.2 The solid domain
The energy equation throughout the solid is given by
@
2
h
s
@X
2

@
2
h
s
@Y
2
0; 7
where, X=x/L and Y=y/L. The solid domain was di-
vided into three regions, as shown in Fig. 2, in order to
develop solutions that exactly satisfy the energy equa-
tion and boundary conditions.
Within region 1, the solution is given by
h
s;1
B
0

k
f
k
s
_ _
Y

N
n1
B
n
cos npX=W


cosh np1 Y =W

=cosh np1 Y
1
=W

;
8
where, Y
1
=1 H
*
. Solution (8) satises (7) and the
following set of boundary conditions: @h
s;1
_
@X 0 at
X=0 and X=W
*
, and@h
s;1
=@Y k
f
=k
s
at Y=1.
Within region 3, the solution can be written as
h
s;3
C
0

N
n1
C
n
cos npX=W

cosh npY =W

=cosh npY
2
=W

;
9
where, Y
2
=1 H
*
2 r
o
*
W
*
. This solution satises (7)
and the following boundary conditions:@h
s;3
=@X 0 at
X=0 and X=W
*
, and@h
s;3
=@Y 0 at Y=0.
For region 2, there is only one xed boundary con-
dition;@h
s;2
=@X 0 at X=0. On the other three
boundaries, the solution must satisfy continuity of
temperature and heat ux. A possible solution for the
temperature distribution in this region can be written as
h
s;2

C
0
Y
1
B
0
Y
2
k
f
=k
s
Y
1
Y
2
Y
1
Y
2
_ _

B
0
C
0
k
f
=k
s
Y
1
Y
1
Y
2
_ _
Y

N
n1
D
n
sin np
Y Y
2
Y
1
Y
2
_ _
cosh
npX
Y
1
Y
2
_ __
cosh
npW

Y
1
Y
2
_ _

N
n1
B
n
cos npX=W

sinh npY Y
2
=W

=
sinh npY
1
Y
2
=W

N
n1
C
n
cos npX=W

sinh npY
1
Y =W

=
sinh npY
1
Y
2
=W

:
10
Solution (10) satises (7) and the boundary condition at
X=0 stated above. In addition, solution (10) guarantees
the continuity of temperature at the interfaces between
region 2 and regions 1 and 3, i.e.,h
s;2
h
s;1
at Y=Y
1
andh
s;2
h
s;3
at Y=Y
2
. The unknown coecients in (8)
(10), B
0
, C
0
, A
n
, B
n
, C
n
, and D
n
(a total of (4N+2)
coecients), can be determined by ensuring continuity of
the heat ux at Y=Y
1
and Y=Y
2
, as well as continuity of
temperature and heat ux at the soliduid interface.
2.3 Evaluation of the coecients
The temperature distributions given by (8)(10) must
satisfy these conditions:
Continuity of heat ux at Y=Y
1
:
@h
s;1
@Y

@h
s;2
@Y
11
Fig. 2 Cross-section of the heat exchanger used for the analysis
599
Continuity of heat ux at Y=Y
2
:
@h
s;3
@Y

@h
s;2
@Y
12
Continuity of temperature at the soliduid interface:
h
s;2
h
f
13
where, the soliduid interface (tube surface) is dened
by
X W

1 r

o
sin /
_ _
; Y Y
1
r

o
W

1 cos /
14
Continuity of heat ux at the solid-uid interface,
which can be expressed as
k
f
k
s
_ _
@h
f
@R

R1
r

0
W

@h
s;2
@X
sin/
@h
s;2
@Y
cos /
_ _
0: 15
Each of (11)(13), and (15) was applied at a number
of equally-spaced points, N
P
, along the respective
interface. This resulted in (4N
P
) linear algebraic equa-
tions for the (4N+2) unknown coecients with 4N
P
>
(4N+2). This linear system of equations was solved by
the well-known least-squares method. Once the un-
known coecients are determined, values of h anywhere
in the solution domain can be easily determined. The
input parameters necessary for the solution are: H
*
, W
*
,
r
0
*
, and k
f
/k
s
. For the special case of k
f
/k
s
=0, (11)(15)
are satised by the expected condition of uniform tem-
perature throughout the solid with A
n
=B
n
=C
n
=D
n
=0
and B
0
=C
0
=11 W
*
/(24 p).
The eects of N and N
P
on the accuracy of the results
were investigated for various combinations of the inde-
pendent parameters. The assessment of the accuracy was
based on the values of B
0
and C
0
. Keeping in mind that
the average temperature at Y=0 ish
s;3
C
0
and the
average temperature at Y=1 ish
s;1
B
0
k
f
=k
s
; we can
see that these two coecients are of signicant impor-
tance for the accuracy of the temperature eld. In
addition, the value of B
0
is the only coecient used in
calculating the thermal resistance of the heat exchanger,
as will be seen later. Table 1 summarizes the eects of N
and N
P
on B
0
and C
0
for various geometries (H
*
, W
*
, r
0
*
)
and material properties (k
s
/k
f
). These results demon-
strate that the series solution converges very fast and
reasonably accurate solutions can be obtained with
N=10. In order to insure better than 0.5% accuracy in
the results, it was decided to perform all computations
with N=20 and N
P
=400.
3 Results and discussion
Results were generated for three dierent values of k
s
/k
f
,
namely k
s
/k
f
=243 (representing silicon-water), k
s
/
k
f
=24.6 (representing stainless steel-water), and k
s
/
k
f
=2.3 (representing concrete-water). These values of
k
s
/k
f
and the materials they represent cover typical
applications of this heat exchanger for electronic cool-
ing, process equipment heat transfer, as well as pave-
ment slab thermal control. In addition, these values
provide two orders-of-magnitude variation in the ther-
mal-conductivity ratio.
3.1 Temperature distribution
Plots of the isotherms within the computational domain
are shown in Figs. 3 and 4 for two heat exchangers with
dierent values of H
*
, W
*
, and r
0
*
; both cases correspond
to k
s
/k
f
=24.6. The value of h is indicated on some iso-
therms and the magnitude of D h between successive
isotherms is uniform in both plots. These results show
that the temperature variation in the X-direction is small
near the upper heated surface; however, the isotherms
Table 1 Eects of N and N
P
on the values of B
0
and C
0
for various geometries and material properties
k
s
/k
f
=243 k
s
/k
f
=24.6 k
s
/k
f
=2.3
B
0
C
0
B
0
C
0
B
0
C
0
H
*
=0.1, W
*
=0.5,
and r
0
*
=0.5
N=5, N
P
=100 0.070465 0.072173 0.048045 0.065704 0.22229 0.024534
N=10, N
P
=200 0.070500 0.072144 0.048319 0.065487 0.22187 0.024459
N=20, N
P
=400 0.070500 0.072144 0.048319 0.065488 0.22187 0.024459
H
*
= 0.3, W
*
= 0.1,
and r
o
*
= 0.8
N=5, N
P
=100 0.012198 0.014217 0.0086828 0.010568 0.25719 0.0082010
N=10, N
P
=200 0.012371 0.014057 0.0078937 0.0098799 0.25604 0.0082370
N=20, N
P
=400 0.012378 0.014052 0.0078837 0.0098714 0.25603 0.0082320
H
*
=0.5, W
*
=1.0,
and r
0
*
=0.2
N=5, N
P
=100 0.14569 0.14661 0.14376 0.15309 0.11214 0.23070
N=10, N
P
=200 0.14577 0.14661 0.14445 0.15310 0.11502 0.23036
N=20, N
P
=400 0.14577 0.14661 0.14447 0.15310 0.11505 0.23037
600
deviate from this at shape in the area surrounding the
ow channel. It can be seen also that the magnitude of
temperature variation is higher in the part of the plate
above the channel than it is in the part below the
channel. The direction of the temperature gradient in the
solid indicates that heat enters the uid channel both
from the top and bottom sections. Thus, part of the heat
input at the top surface ows directly into the upper
surface of the channel, while the remainder by-passes the
channel and then returns to enter through the lower
surface of the channel. The isotherms in the uid deviate
slightly from the circular form and this deviation is more
noticeable near the outer radius of the channel.
Another observation is that the values of h are higher
for the plate in Fig. 3 than the plate in Fig. 4. Keeping
the plate thickness L xed (so that the temperature level
becomes proportional to h), the results in Figs. 3 and 4
with the corresponding values of H
*
, W
*
, and r
0
*
suggest
that a plate with a large number of small-diameter
channels (Fig. 4) will experience a lower temperature
level than a plate with a small number of large-diameter
channels.
The temperature distribution at the wall-uid inter-
face (h
i
) is shown in Figs. 57 for various geometries and
material properties. In Fig. 5, the eect of W
*
is inves-
tigated keeping the other parameters (H
*
, r
0
*
, and k
s
/k
f
)
constant. Again, keeping L constant in order to main-
tain the proportionality between (T
i
T
b
) and h
i
, we can
see that decreasing W
*
at the same r
0
*
would amount to
decreasing the channel diameter and the distance be-
tween the channels. Since the heat source is located at
the top surface of the heat exchanger, it is expected that
h
i
would decrease gradually as one proceeds around the
tube periphery from /=0 to /=180 (see Fig. 5). At
both ends of this domain, a zero slope condition is
maintained because of symmetry. The value of h
i
can be
seen to increase signicantly as W
*
increases. This is
consistent with the results in Figs. 3 and 4, where clo-
sely-spaced small channels corresponded to a decreased
temperature level in the heat exchanger. From Eq. (6),
the average interfacial temperature can be evaluated
as:h
i
11W

=24p; and the results in Fig. 5 appear to
be consistent with this value. Moreover, the change in h
i
between /=0 and /=p is seen to increase as W
*
Fig. 4 Isotherms for H
*
=0.1, W
*
=0.2, r
0
*
=0.5, and k
s
/k
f
=24.6
Fig. 3 Isotherms for H
*
=0.3, W
*
=0.5, r
0
*
=0.4, and k
s
/k
f
=24.6
601
increases. That is because the tube occupies a larger part
of the block as W
*
increases.
Figure 6 shows the variation of h
i
with r
0
*
, keeping the
other parameters constant. These results explore the
eect of changing the channel diameter while main-
taining the same distance between the channels centre-
to-centre. Fig. 6 shows a larger temperature variation
with angle as the tube radius is increased. However, the
average interfacial temperature does not change with r
0
*
.
This graph shows that, for a xed number of tubes, a
smaller tube radius is expected to result in more iso-
thermal condition at the solid-uid interface.
Figure 7 presents the variation of h
i
with k
s
/k
f
.
Maintaining a constant k
f
in order to maintain propor-
tionality between (T
i
T
b
) and h
i
, the results in Fig. 7
show that the interface temperature becomes more uni-
form as the solid thermal conductivity is increased due
to the smaller thermal resistance within the solid. For
the silicon-water system intended for high speed com-
puter chips, the heat exchanger provides almost constant
temperature along the tube periphery. When the thermal
conductivity ratio is reduced, the interface temperature
shows signicant variation along the tube periphery. A
larger temperature gradient is needed for a smaller
thermal conductivity in order to achieve the given
thermal load of the heat exchanger.
The eect of H
*
on h
i
was also explored and found to
be much less signicant than the eects of other
parameters.
3.2 Heat ux at the soliduid interface
The local heat ux at soliduid interface (q
i
) can be
expressed in the following non-dimensional form:
q
i
q
ave
1

1
n1
nA
n
cos n/; 16
where, q
ave
(=q/(p r
0
*
)) is the average heat ux at the
solid-uid interface. Results for q
i
are shown in Figs. 8
to 10. The eect of W
*
is presented in Fig. 8. The value
Fig. 6 Variation of h
i
with r
0
*
for H
*
=0.1, W
*
=0.1, and k
s
/
k
f
=24.6
Fig. 7 Variation of h
i
with k
s
/k
f
for H
*
=0.1, W
*
=0.5, and r
0
*
= 0.5
Fig. 8 Eect of W
*
on q
i
for H
*
=0.1, r
0
*
=0.4, and k
s
/k
f
=24.6
Fig. 5 Variation of h
i
with W
*
for H
*
=0.1, r
0
*
=0.4, and k
s
/
k
f
=24.6
602
of q
i
changes from a maximum at /=0 to a minimum at
/=p. The dierence between the maximum and the
minimum values is not very large and W
*
does not ap-
pear to have much inuence on the q
i
-prole. Fig. 9
demonstrates the eect of tube radius on q
i
at the same
tube spacing centre-to-centre. The circumferential vari-
ation of q
i
decreases as the tube radius decreases. For the
case of r
0
*
=0.9, corresponding to large-diameter tubes
with a small separating distance, the angular prole of q
i
deviates from the smooth shape seen with the lower r
0
*
and the magnitude of dierence between the heat ux at
/=0 and /=p is higher. The eect of k
s
/k
f
is shown in
Fig. 10. As expected, a more uniform distribution of
heat ux is seen for a larger solid thermal conductivity
because of larger temperature uniformity within the
solid.
3.3 Overall thermal resistance
Considering a length of the heat exchanger, the overall
thermal resistance C is normally dened as
C
T
s;1
y L; z T
b;in
qW
T

17
where, the over-bar indicates average over x.
Noting that
T
s;1
y L; z T
b;out
T
s;1
y L T
b
constant;
we can express C as
C
T
s,l
y L T
b
qW
T

..
geometry dependent

1
_ m
T
C
p;f
..
flow dependent
: 18
Let us focus on the geometry dependent part and dene
c
T
s;1
y L T
b
qW
T

L
W
T
k
f
_ _
h
s;1
Y 1: 19
Finally, we can do our computations and geometry
optimizations using a dimensionless thermal resistance
c
*
, dened by
c

W
T
k
f

L
c h
s;1
Y 1: 20
Using (8), we can express c
*
as
c

B
0
k
f
=k
s
: 21
In the special case of k
f
/k
s
=0, the plate temperature
becomes uniform and B
0
assumes the value B
0
=11 W
*
/
(24p). Therefore, based on (21), the minimum value of
thermal resistance is given by c
min
*
=0.1459 W
*
.
Values of c
*
for the three values of k
s
/k
f
and wide
ranges of the geometrical parameters are shown in
Figs. 1116. In Fig. 11, it can be seen that c
*
increases
monotonically with H
*
for all values of W
*
for k
s
/
k
f
=2.3. As the distance between the heated surface and
the top edge of the tube increases, the thermal resistance
is expected to increase because of the larger conduction
path for heat transfer. Again, a geometry with a large
number of small-diameter tubes (low W
*
) has less ther-
mal resistance than a geometry with a small number of
large-diameter tubes (high W
*
). This trend is consistent Fig. 10 Eect of k
s
/k
f
on q
i
for H
*
=0.1, W
*
=0.5, and r
0
*
= 0.5
Fig. 9 Eect of r
0
*
on q
i
for H
*
=0.1, W
*
=0.1, and k
s
/k
f
=24.6
Fig. 11 Dependence of c
*
on H
*
and W
*
for k
s
/k
f
=2.3 and r
0
*
=0.3
603
with the earlier results of the temperature distribution.
Fig. 12 shows the variation of c
*
with r
o
*
for dierent
values of W
*
at k
s
/k
f
=2.3. For a given spacing between
the tubes (centre-to-centre), the magnitude of c
*
de-
creases with the tube radius, attains a minimum, and
then increases with further increase of tube radius. The
minimum happens around r
0
*
=0.3. As the tube radius
increases, the solid region of the heat exchanger is re-
placed by the uid region. Therefore, there is a decrease
of conduction path between the source and the sink.
However, there is less room for the redistribution of
temperature within the solid. The net result of these two
eects is the variation seen in Fig. 12. As expected, the
magnitude of thermal resistance increases with tube
spacing.
The values of c
*
for k
s
/k
f
=24.6 are plotted in Figs. 13
and 14. The trends are very similar to those seen in
Figs. 11 and 12. It may be noticed that with an increase
in k
s
/k
f
, the slopes of the c
*
vs. H
*
curves decrease and
the variation of c
*
with r
0
*
becomes less signicant.
Figures 15 and 16, corresponding to k
s
/k
f
=243, show
that c
*
is much less dependent on H
*
and r
0
*
, while the
dependence on W
*
is still very signicant. The eect of
W
*
on c
*
seen in Figs. 11 to 16 is completely consistent
with the eect of W
*
on h
s
and h
i
presented earlier.
3.4 Optimum congurations
Dierent scenarios are used in design depending on the
objective function that need to be optimized and the
constraints that are relevant to the particular applica-
tion. In this section, we will demonstrate how the present
analysis can be used in three dierent design scenarios.
In the rst scenario, let us consider a given plate with
a known geometry (W
T
L ) and known solid and
uid properties. The objective is to determine r
0
for
minimum c
*
under the constraint of a xed number of
Fig. 12 Dependence of c
*
on r
0
*
and W
*
for k
s
/k
f
=2.3 and H
*
=0.1
Fig. 13 Dependence of c
*
on H
*
and W
*
for k
s
/k
f
=24.6 and
r
0
*
=0.3
Fig. 14 Dependence of c
*
on r
0
*
and W
*
for k
s
/k
f
=24.6 and
H
*
=0.1
Fig. 15 Dependence of c
*
on H
*
and W
*
for k
s
/k
f
=243 and r
0
*
=0.3
604
channels M. The objective in this case can be achieved
by direct application of the results shown in Figs. 1116.
Consider for example a concrete slab with W
T
=1 m,
= 5 m, and L=20 cm with water owing in M=10
channels. In this case, W=W
T
/(2M)=5 cm and
W
*
=W/L=0.25. For minimum thermal resistance, as-
sume H
*
=0.1; lower values may cause structural prob-
lems. We now search for r
0
*
that will produce minimum
c
*
for k
s
/k
f
=2.3 and the above values of H
*
and W
*
.
Direct application of the present analysis produces
r
0
*
=0.28, r
0
=1.4 cm, and c
*
=0.1184.
In the second scenario, let us consider a given plate
with known geometry (W
T
L ) and known solid and
uid properties. The objective is to determine M and r
0
for minimum pumping power P
T
under the constraint of
xed overall thermal resistance C. The pumping power is
given by
P
T
_ m
T
DP=q
f
; 22
where, DP is the pressure drop across the heat ex-
changer, which (under the present conditions of laminar
fully-developed ow) can be expressed as
DP
8l
f
pr
4
0
q
f
M
_ _
_ m
T
: 23
Knowing thatC c _ m
T
C
p;f
_ _
1
; and using denition
(20) of c
*
, we can write
_ m
T
C
p;f
C
Lc

W
T
k
f

_ _
1
24
Substituting (23) and (24) into (22) and rearranging, we
get
bP
T

16
p W
T
= r

0
_ _
4
W


3
1
Lc

W
T
k
f
C
_ _
2
; 25
where,
b q
f
C
P;f
C
_ _
2
L
3
=l
f
:
The procedure is illustrated through the following
example: Consider a stainless-steel plate (W
T
=10 cm,
=50 cm, and L=2 cm) receiving a uniform heat ux at
the top surface and cooled by water owing in channels
inside the block. It is desired to achieve an overall
thermal resistance of C=0.05 K/W. Determine the
channels layout (M and r
o
) that will result in the mini-
mum pumping power P
T
.
Taking water properties at 300 K, we get k
s
/k
f
=24.6.
The value of H
*
was assumed to be 0.1. A search pro-
cedure is required to nd the solution. Select a value of
M, from which W and W
*
can be determined. For a
xed M, use dierent values of r
0
*
and determine c
*
for
each combination of H
*
, W
*
, r
0
*
, and k
s
/k
f
from the
present analysis. The value of b P
T
can then be easily
determined from (25). This search procedure was con-
ducted for dierent values of M and a sample of the
results is shown in Fig. 17. The minimum P
T
was found
to correspond to M=14 and r
0
*
=0.88.
Fig. 16 Dependence of c
*
on r
0
*
and W
*
for k
s
/k
f
=243 and H
*
=0.1
Fig. 17 Example on the optimization of pumping power
Fig. 18 Example on the optimization of thermal resistance
605
In the third optimization scenario, we consider a
plate heat exchanger with a known geometry (W
T
L
) and known solid and uid properties. The objective is
to determine M and r
0
for minimum C under the con-
straint of xed P
T
. (25) can be reformulated to read
C
Lc

W
T
k
f

4
q
f
r
2
0
C
P;f
l
f
2pMP
T
_ _
1=2
: 26
For example, consider a silicon wafer (W
T
=1 cm,
=5 cm, and L=2 mm) receiving a uniform heat ux at
the top surface and cooled by water owing in circular
channels. It is desired to limit the frictional pumping
power to P
T
=2 10
4
W. Determine the channels
layout (M and r
0
) that will result in a minimum C .
The search procedure is demonstrated in Fig. 18. For
each value of r
0
*
, there is a value of M that produces a
minimum C. The value of Mfor minimum C can be seen
to increase as r
0
*
increases. The limit of diminishing re-
turns is probably reached at r
0
*
=0.9. A reasonable
solution corresponds to M=9 and r
0
*
=0.9. All results in
Fig. 18 correspond to H
*
=0.1 and k
s
/k
f
=243.
4 Conclusions
Flat plate heat exchangers with circular longitudinal
channels have been analyzed for the conditions of
uniform heat ux at the top surface of the plate and
fully-developed ow and heat transfer in the tubes. An
analytical series solution has been developed for the
temperature distributions in the uid and solid regions
and the series solution is shown to converge to high
accuracy with a small number (N=15) terms. Calcu-
lations have been carried out for a wide range of the
geometry parameters (H
*
, W
*
, and r
0
*
) and the solid
uid thermal conductivity ratio k
s
/k
f
, thus covering
typical applications of this heat exchanger for thermal
management of electronics, process equipment, and
pavement slabs.
It was found that the temperature level in the solid
and at the soliduid interface increases with an increase
in tube spacing (centre-to-centre) for a given depth of
tubes from the heated surface. For a given tube spacing,
the interface temperature shows wider variation along
the tube periphery when the tube radius is increased;
however, the average value of temperature does not
change with tube radius. When the thermal conductivity
ratio is increased, the interface temperature becomes
more uniform because of the decrease in thermal resis-
tance within the solid. The peripheral heat ux distri-
bution at the soliduid interface became more uniform
as the tube spacing (centre-to-centre) and/or the thermal
conductivity ratio were increased.
The overall thermal resistance of the heat exchanger
increased with increases in the tubes depth from the
heated surface and/or the spacing between tubes (centre-
to-centre). However, for given depth and spacing, the
thermal resistance achieved a minimum value at an
intermediate tube diameter indicating the importance of
tube size in the design of this heat exchanger. A larger
thermal conductivity ratio resulted in lower thermal
resistance within the solid and heat transfer in that sit-
uation is heavily controlled by the convective resistance
at the solid-uid interface.
The objective function for design optimization of this
heat exchanger has been derived for three dierent sce-
narios including minimum pumping power and mini-
mum thermal resistance. The optimization procedure
has been illustrated by an example in each scenario.
Acknowledgements The nancial assistance provided by the Natu-
ral Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada is
gratefully acknowledged.
References
1. Chu RC, Chrysler GM (1998) Recent development of cooling
technology and thermal design for leading-edge electronic
products. Int J Transport Phenomena 1:3140
2. Tuckerman DB, Pease RF (1981) High-performance heat
sinking for VLSI. IEEE Electron Devic Lett EDL-2:126129
3. Tuckerman DB, Pease RF (1982) Optimized convective cooling
using micromachined structure. J Electrochemical Soc 129:98
4. Philips RJ (1987) Forced-convection, liquid-cooled micro-
channel heat sinks. MS thesis, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology
5. Wang BX, Peng XF (1994) Experimental investigation on li-
quid forced-convection heat transfer through microchannels.
Int J Heat Mass Transfer 37:7382
6. Peng XF, Peterson GP (1995) The eect of thermouid and
geometrical parameters on convection of liquids through rect-
angular micrcochannels. Int J Heat Mass Transfer 38:755758
7. Peng XF, Peterson GP (1996) Convective heat transfer and
ow friction for water ow in microchannel structures. Int J
Heat Mass Transfer 39:25992608
8. Tso CP, Mahulikar SP (1999) The role of Brinkman number in
analysing ow transitions in micrcochannels. Int J Heat Mass
Transfer 42:18131833
9. Bowers MB, Mudawar I (1994) Two-phase electronic cooling
using mini-channel and micro-channel heat sink. J Electron
Packaging 116:290305
10. Weisburg A, Bau HH, Zemel JN (1992) Analysis of micro-
channels for integrated cooling. Int J Heat Mass Transfer
35:24652473
11. Ambatipudi KK, Rahman MM (2000) Analysis of conjugate
heat transfer in microchannel heat sinks. Numer Heat Transfer
(Part A) 37:711731
12. Fisher TS, Torrance KE (2000) Constrained optimal duct
shapes for conjugate laminar forced convection. Int J Heat
Mass Transfer 43:113126
13. Fedorov AG, Viskanta R (2000) Three-dimensional conjugate
heat transfer in the microchannel heat sink for electronic
packaging. Int J Heat Mass Transfer 43:399415
14. Kawano K, Minakami K, Iwasaki H, Ishizuka M (1998)
Development of microchannel heat exchanging. HTDvol. 361,
ASME, New York, pp 173180
15. Yu D, Warrington R, Barron R, Ameel T (1998) An experi-
mental and theoretical investigation of uid ow and heat
transfer in microtubes. ASME/JSME Thermal Engineering
Conference, vol. 1, pp 523530
16. Adams TM, Abdel-Khalik SI, Jeter SM (1998) An experi-
mental investigation of single-phase forced convection in mi-
crochannels. Int J Heat Mass Transfer 41:851857
606
17. Adams TM, Dowling MF, Abdel-Khalik SI (1999) Applica-
bility of traditional turbulent single-phase forced convection
correlations to non-circular microchannels. Int J Heat Mass
Transfer 42:44114415
18. Mala GM, Li D (1999) Flow characteristics of water in mi-
crotubes. Int J Heat Fluid Flow 20:142148
19. ASHRAE (1995) ASHRAE HandbookHVAC Applications,
IP edn. American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-
Conditioning Engineers, Atlanta, Georgia
20. Cheng CH, Yu JH (2000) Buoyancy-assisted ow reversal in
vertical circular channels within an asymmetrically-heated slab.
Int Comm Heat Mass Transfer 27:645654
21. Cheng CH, Yu JH (1995) Conjugate heat transfer and buoy-
ancy-driven secondary ow in the cooling channels within a
vertical slab. Numer Heat Transfer (Part A) 28:443460
607