Experimental study of flow and heat transfer characteristics in silicon-based corrugated microchannels

Silicon-based corrugated microchannels used for heat transfer enhancement were fabricated by micro-electro-mechanical-system technology for the first time.The flow and heat transfer characteristics of the deionized water through these corrugated microchannels were studied experimentally,and comparisons were performed between corrugated microchannels and straight microchannels with the same aspect ratio(height-to-width ratio) and hydraulic diameter.Experimental results show that,both flow friction and Nusselt number in corrugated microchannels increase considerably than those in straight microchannels,and this increase becomes more obvious with the increasing Reynolds number.Under the same pumping power,using corrugated microchannels instead of straight microchannels causes the reduction of thermal resistance.The heat transfer enhancement mechanism of corrugated microchannels was also discussed.