Performance analysis of double-layer microchannel heat sinks was performed under non-uniform heating conditions having randomly distributed hotspots. Two parallel-channel (parallel-flow and counter-flow) and one cross-channel (transverse-flow) designs of double-layer heat sink were evaluated with three sets of heating schemes. Each set of heating scheme consisted of eleven randomly distributed hotspots generated by Latin hypercube sampling. The heat flux, area, and location of the hotspots were selected as the design parameters. Conjugate heat transfer analysis of the heat sinks was performed by solving three-dimensional Navier–Stokes and energy equations. Water with temperature-dependent properties was selected as the coolant. The thermal resistance, pressure drop, maximum temperature rise, and temperature variation among hotspots were evaluated for all the heat sinks. The transverse-flow microchannel heat sink exhibited the lowest thermal resistance, temperature rise and temperature variation among the hotspots throughout the specified range of flow rate. The lowest pressure drop was exhibited by the counter-flow heat sink.

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The performances of various transverse-flow double-layer microchannel heat sink configurations were evaluated compared to those of parallel-flow heat sink configurations via conjugate heat transfer analysis. For the analysis, three-dimensional Navier–Stokes and energy equations for steady incompressible laminar flow were solved using a finite-volume solver. Water with temperature-dependent thermophysical properties was used as a coolant. The thermal resistances were evaluated for various flow configurations of both cross-channel and parallel-channel designs with identical geometric parameters and total flow rate. Changes in the microchannel flow direction lead to remarkable changes in thermal resistance and temperature uniformity. A transverse-flow configuration exhibited the best overall performance among the tested flow configurations in terms of the thermal resistance, temperature uniformity, and pressure drop.

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