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Micromixers play a crucial role in mixing different fluids within microfluidic systems. Therefore, it is essential to analyze parameters, such as dimensional characteristics, mixing length, micromixer efficiency, and the mixing process, to enhance their performance. In this study, we examine various T-shaped micromixer designs, including triangular, rectangular, and trapezius configurations, to evaluate their mixing performance and compare them with a corresponding circular micromixer. Additionally, we investigate the effects of obstacles, varying their angles and distances, in the circular micromixer to determine trends in mixing improvement across cases. The micromixers have minimal dimensions, resulting in laminar flow. By comparing the outcomes of the proposed cases with those without obstacles, we find that the triangular micromixer exhibits the highest mixing performance with 8.3% improvement with respect to the circular case. Furthermore, while the rectangular case initially displayed the weakest performance at lower Reynolds numbers, a discernible enhancement was observed as Reynolds numbers increased. This improvement was attributed to the emergence of vortices at Re = 20. The performance showed a substantial increase, reaching a coefficient of 0.98 at Re = 40, a value closely approaching that of the triangular case. Among the three obstacles, one obstacle is varied at four different angles (0°, 60°, 90°, and 120°), while the other two obstacles remain fixed at distances of 150 and 200 μm. In cases involving obstacles, a noteworthy enhancement was evident when compared to cases without obstacles. In these cases, the introduction of obstacles resulted in a remarkable 34% improvement in the mixing index compared to obstacle-free scenarios. This improvement can be attributed to the observed flow behavior, where the formation of vortices, even at low Reynolds numbers, emerges as a key factor contributing to this enhancement. In addition, we assess the mixing enhancement to identify the most efficient arrangement of obstacles. The results indicate angles of 90° and 120° are more effective than others in improving mixing proficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Curved micromixers are one of the most widely used types of passive micromixers that perform better than straight micromixers. Yet the main disadvantage of these micromixers is low mixing efficiency at low Reynolds numbers. To overcome this drawback implementing obstacles with different configurations can be a solution to change the flow pattern and consequently boosting the mixing efficiency of system. To this purpose, in the present study, four curved passive micromixers with different arrangements of cylindrical obstacles alongside with simple curved channel are considered and assessed. Simulations are carried out at eight different Reynolds numbers ranging from 0.1 to 80 in steady state, with water as a working fluid. In this regard, geometrical parameters such as channel cross-section, channel length, number of pitches, dimensions of obstacles and number of obstacles are considered constant in all cases. The results showed that the special arrangement of the obstacles placed in the channels led to the deviation of the flow path of the fluid and as a result the contact surface between the two fluids increased at low Reynolds numbers, which resulted an increase in the efficiency of mixing between the two species. Namely Case-B and Case-E with uniform distribution of obstacles along the channel have 26% and 23.6% higher mixing efficiency at Reynolds 5 compared to simple unobstructed channel. This is because the arrangement of obstacles in these cases associates with layered mixing of species and better mixing on the corners. Also, among different cases, the Case-B shows the highest mixing index. At Reynolds 40, the mixing efficiency of Case-A, B, C, D and E are 95.54%, 91.52%, 89.96%, 76.39% and 89.7%, respectively. By comparing the introduced channels, considering the mixing efficiency and pressure drop, it can be said that the Case-B model, although its mixing efficiency is 1.8% higher than the Case-E model, but due to 14.5% higher pressure drop, Case-E has the best performance among the introduced channels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, utilization of micro/mini channel heat sinks (MCHS) has become a popular solution for cooling of electronic systems and maintaining their operating temperature in a desired range. Increasing the contact surface area between fluid and solid zones by geometrical modifications is a promising solution that significantly affects thermal performance and heat transfer in these systems. In this paper, considering thermohydraulic performance, the effect of creating grooves on the middle-placed barriers of a minichannel heat sink is investigated to access a criterion for favorable temperature performance. Evaluating different geometrical parameters of barriers and grooves including cross section, depth and position of horizontal groove as well as vertical groove distance, simultaneous employment of optimal horizontal and vertical groove in the channel at different Reynolds numbers is studied. Outputs including channel base temperature, friction factor ratio and total thermal resistance are studied to evaluate the performance of the proposed minichannel. Results indicate that vortex formation adjacent to solid walls considerably enhances the heat transfer and variation of each geometrical parameters offers a performance enhancement. Moreover, the best thermal performance is obtained by simultaneous employment of the horizontal rectangular groove (x = 0.45 mm, y = 0.2 mm and h g = 0.6 mm) and the vertical groove (d g = 0.4 mm). In the optimal case, the channel base temperature and the total thermal resistance reduces by 11.88 K and 27%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Hotspot heat transfer using a microchannel pin-fin hybrid heat sink is investigated numerically. • Pin-fin shape, pin-fin angle, wall wave amplitude, Reynolds number and hotspot heat flux are investigated. • Rectangular pin-fin with rounded edges have better thermal performance than NACA 0024 airfoil. • Increasing the NACA 0024 airfoil angle increases the heat transfer and consequently leads to decrease in hotspot temperature. • By increasing the airfoil pin-fin angle, MATD improves in the base of heat sink and hotspot. In the present study, numerical investigation of hotspot heat transfer in a microchannel pin-fin hybrid heat sink is accomplished. The proposed heat sink consists of 20 microchannels at background zone and 143 pin-fins at hotspot zone. Therefore, the effect of parameters including geometrical properties (pin-fin shape, pin-fin angle and microchannel wall wave amplitude), Reynolds number and hotspot heat flux on different decisive parameters of heat sinks are investigated. Parameters such as average pressure drop, pumping power, mean absolute temperature difference (MATD) at background zone, MATD at hotspot zone and thermal resistance are considered as performance parameters. The results show that rectangular pin-fin with rounded edges have better thermal performance than NACA airfoil. Besides, increasing the NACA airfoil angle increases the heat transfer and consequently leads to decrease in hotspot temperature. Also, numerical results show that increasing the wall wave amplitude increases the heat transfer rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]