Influence of hydrophobic fin configuration in thermal system in relation to electronic device cooling applications

In this study, heat and flow analysis of the cooling system incorporating fins with hydrophilic and hydrophobic wetting surfaces has been considered in relation to electronic cooling applications. Temperature and velocity fields in the solution domain are simulated for various fin numbers and sizes. A temperature parameter is introduced to assess the thermal performance of the system. Fin count is introduced to formulate the number of fins in the solution domain. The Nusselt number and pressure drop between the inlet and exit ports due to different fin configurations of the cooling system for various fin counts are presented. It is found that the temperature parameter attains high values for large sizes and small fin counts, which is more pronounced for low Reynolds numbers. Increasing number of fins results in almost uniform flow distribution among the fin, which is more pronounced for the hydrophobic fin configuration. The Nusselt number attains larger values for the hydrophilic fin configuration than that corresponding to the hydrophobic fin, and it attains a peak value for certain arrangement of fin count, which differs with the Reynolds number. The pressure drop between the inlet and exit ports reduces for hydrophobic fin; hence the slip velocity introduced for hydrophobic fin improves the pressure drop by 6% to 16% depending on the fin counts in the cooling system.