Thermal management using the bi-disperse porous medium approach

Thermal management of distributed electronics similar to data centers is studied using a bi-disperse porous medium (BDPM) approach. The BDPM channel comprises heat generating micro-porous square blocks, separated by macro-pores. Laminar forced convection cooling fluid of Pr = 0.7 saturates both the micro- and macro-pores. Bi-dispersion effect is induced by varying the macro-pore volume fraction ϕE, and by changing the number of porous blocks N2, both representing re-distribution of the electronics. When 0.2 ⩽ ϕE ⩽ 0.86, the heat transfer Nu is enhanced twice (from ∼550 to ∼ 1100) while the pressure drop Δp∗ reduces almost eightfold. For ϕE < 0.5, Nu reduces quickly to reach a minimum at the mono-disperse porous medium (MDPM) limit (ϕE → 0). Compared to N2 = 1 case, Nu for BDPM configuration is high when N2 ≫ 1, i.e., the micro-porous blocks are many and well distributed. The Nu increase with Re changes from non-linear to linear as N2 increases from 1 to 81, with corresponding insignificant pumping power increase.