Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 30 (2022) 101719

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Case Studies in Thermal Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/csite

Cooling a central processing unit by installing a mini channel and

flowing nanofluid, and investigating economic efficiency
Hexi Wu a, **, Xinye Wu b, Li Feng c, ***, Mohammad Mehdizadeh Youshanlouei d, *
a
School of Computer Science, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China
b
School of Information Technology and Management, University of International Business and Economics, 100029, China
c
School of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, Guangdong, China
d
Sustainable Management of Natural Resources and Environment Research Group, Faculty of Environment and Labour Safety, Ton Duc Thang
University, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: CPUs are widely used in many industries. These components require electrical energy for pro­
CPU cessing and generating heat due to their electrical resistance. On the other hand, they have a very
Cooling high heat flux due to their small size and high energy consumption. Therefore, their cooling with
Simulation new methods helps their performance a lot. In this study, water flow with Nano-encapsulated
Nano-encapsulated phase change material phase change material (NPCM) was simulated to cool an embedded CPU inside a mini channel.
Mini channel
These NPCMs have a significant effect on heat transfer parameters due to their ability to phase
Economic
change in their core. On the other hand, examining the exert economy broadens our horizons to
choose an appropriate system in practical problem engineering. Numerical simulation by the FVM
method was utilized to study the effects of Reynolds numbers, heat flux of CPU’s surface, and
volume fraction on the temperature distribution, the maximum temperature of CPU’s surface, and
economic efficiency. Evidence showed that increasing Reynolds number from 50 to 100 at zero
volume fraction reduces the maximum temperature of the CPU’s surface from 98.4 to 82.5◦ C.
Also, mixing a 3% volume fraction of NPCM with pure water can decrease the maximum tem­
perature of the CPU’s surface by 2.27◦ C relative to pure water. Moreover, rising Reynolds number
from 50 to 100 enhanced the net profit per unit transferred heat load (ηp ) by 100 times.

Nomenclature

CP Specific heat capacity, [J kg− 1 K− 1]

g Gravitational acceleration, [m s− 2]
h Latent heat of the core, [J kg− 1]
k Thermal conductivity, [W m− 1 K− 1]
L Length, [m]
P Pressure, [N m− 2]
T Temperature, [K]

* Corresponding author.
** Corresponding author.
*** Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (H. Wu), [email protected] (L. Feng), [email protected] (M. Mehdizadeh Youshanlouei).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csite.2021.101719
Received 14 November 2021; Received in revised form 11 December 2021; Accepted 15 December 2021
Available online 17 December 2021
2214-157X/© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
H. Wu et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 30 (2022) 101719

fr Friction factor, [− ]
q’’ Heat flux, [W m− 2]
V Velocity vector, [m s− 1]
x, y Cartesian coordinates, [m]
ṁ Mass flowrate, [kg s− 1]
E Recovered heat exergy[W]
NPV Annual net profit
TCV Annual total cost

Greek symbols
1 − 1
μ Dynamic viscosity, [kg m− s ]
ρ Density, [kg m− 3]
φ Volume fraction, [− ]
Nu Nusselt number, [− ]
Re Reynolds number, [− ]
Pr Prandtl number, [− ]

Subscript
Ave Average
In Inlet
q Temperature difference
p Pressure drop flow
T Exergy destruction
M Mixture
Max Maximum

1. Introduction
Advances in electronic technology have caused electronic components to shrink and not have enough space to cool them [1]. The
central processing unit (CPU) is an electronic component that can process using electricity energy [2], which is used today in all
industries such as automobiles, aircraft, ships, furniture, power plants, etc. [3–6]. This electronic component is conventionally made of
a single metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) that first receives the data and then processes them and finally exports new data [7]. CPUs
can process by receiving electricity energy, and since these components have electrical resistance, so they generate heat by passing
current electricity. The generated heat by the CPUs causes to raise its temperature, which could be damaged if be not controlled [8].
The only way to control the temperature of the CPUs is to cool them. So, there are many methods for cooling a CPU including installing
a heat sink, a fan, and liquid flow. Ozturk and Tari [9] implemented a heat sink and a fan to blow air on the heat sink for cooling a CPU.
An up-to-date method to reduce the CPU temperature is using heat pipes. Heat pipes are heat transfer appliance that uses phase
change between liquid and vapor state to transfer heat from a hot surface to a cold surface [10,11]. Farahbod [12] has numerically and
experimentally studied the heat pipe system and nanofluid to equip a drill. In another investigated research by Farahbod et al. [13],
Zinc oxide nanoparticles were added to pure water to investigate the thermal and dynamic performance of heat pipes. They are
observed that adding Zinc oxide nanoparticles can reduce the thermal resistance by 15–66%. So, a heat pipe can be a useful device to
cool electronic components that Sanhan et al. [14] used a heat pipe to cool CPU and GPU in laptops.
Nanofluid is widely being used in numerous fields such as solar thermal, medical [15–19], automobile, detergency, electronic
cooling [20–23]. Yekani et al. [24] employed nanofluid to cool a hot annulus wall by natural convection. Moreover, Aliakbari [25]
used nanofluid inside a channel for cooling. Results showed that the Nusselt number is proportional to increasing nanoparticle con­
centration and decreasing porosity. Al-Rashed et al. [26] have cold a CPU by CuO-water nanofluid. In other works [27,28], a magnetic
field was employed to affect the cooling CPU. Most researchers have used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for the investigation of
cooling CPUs. In CFD, some PDE’s equations, which well-known Navier-Stokes are implemented to study the behavior of a fluid flow.
CFD simulation is a method with low cost to observe the effects of many parameters on flow. Many studies have employed CFD for their
researches [29,30].
The size of the CPU is centimeter-scale, which consumes a high electricity energy range and dissipates it in form of heat. So,
receiving the high CPU dissipation needs fluid that can store and transfer this heat. In past years, researchers have used the heat sink
and blowing air to cool a CPU, but this way needs a big space to be weak the thermophysical properties of air [31]. On other hand, a
liquid such as water has appropriate thermophysical properties for cooling a CPU [8]. But researchers have not limited themselves to
pure liquid and have turned to nanotechnology to improve the thermal properties of liquids. Nanotechnology is being widely used in
different fields such as the membrane of desalination, nonporous structure, drug delivery [15–19], heating, and cooling equipment
[32,33]. Adding nanoparticles to pure liquid can change the thermal properties of working fluid including viscosity, thermal con­
ductivity [34], density, specific heat capacity [35]. Izadi et al. [36] installed a porous media on the CPU’s surface, which used
water-Alumina nanofluid flow through porous media for cooling the CPU. Nazari et al. [37] experimentally studied the effects of water,

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H. Wu et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 30 (2022) 101719

Ethylene Glycol, Alumina, and CNT nanofluids on CPU cooling. They observed that adding nanoparticles to base fluid leads to the
decrement of the CPU temperature. Study [38] cooled the CPU heat sink by pumping nanofluid. its results showed that the increasing
volume fraction has a positive effect on cooling the CPU. Moreover, Chen et al. [39] have numerically and experimentally investigated
the cooling CPU by adding TiO2 to water. They reduced the average temperature of the CPU by 4.54 ◦ C relative to pure water when the
volume fraction was 9%. Also, many other works have utilized the nanofluid as a coolant fluid for cooling CPUs [40–43].
A new microparticle and nanoparticle have recently appeared, which well-known Micro/Nano-encapsulated phase change material
(MPCM/NPCM) [44]. These particles are made of a shell and a core, which shell is solid and core can change its phase in solid-liquid
states. Hence, EPCM’s core can store high heat energy as latent heat [45]. Eisapour et al. [46] simulated the flow of water and MPCM
for cooling a photovoltaic-thermal system. They realized that using MPCM has a significant effect on the temperature of PVT. Also, the
experimental data of the study [46] observed that the MPCM can increase heat transfer rate by 1–2.5 times when the mass fraction is
between 0.05 and 0.276.
Eventually, exert economic and optimizing can help to design a benefit system in thermal engineering. Chen et al. [47] analyzed the
economic efficiency of a circumferentially corrugated helical tube when its walls were at a constant temperature. To optimize the
cooling process and temperature behavior, one of the novel methods is to predict the heat transfer behavior in the cooling process by
applying the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm in conjunction with the mathematical heat transfer model. In Ref. [48], the
authors leverage the PSO algorithm to optimize the mapping problem in a network on a chip which is a special scheme for establishing
links between operating modules within the processor. The results show a significant improvement in power utilization. In general,
employing a meta-heuristic optimization method is a promising approach to solve the cooling problem. Moreover, the economic
aspects of cooling techniques are also very important. There are novel hybrid techniques to optimize the useable heat that can be
recovered from an industrial system [49]. In this regard, the conversion of waste heat released by the CPU to electrical energy can be an
excellent approach.
As mentioned in the introduction, only metal and non-metal nanoparticles were utilized for CPU cooling in the previous works. But,
NPCM is a new technology and method to increase heat transfer. Thus, Adding NPCM to water can dramatically cool the CPU by storing
heat as latent in a solid-liquid state. Therefore, in this study, a CPU with high constant heat flux is embedded in a mini-channel to be
cooled. The mixture of water and NPCM is flowed by a pump, and therefore various parameters such as Reynolds numbers, volume
fraction, and CPU heat flux are supposed to be investigated at CPU temperature.

1.1. Description problem

In the present simulation, a mini-channel was used with a length of 6L and a height of 0.5L. The mixture flow of water and NPCM
enters the mini-channel from the left side with a uniform velocity (VIn ) and temperature (TIn ), which is heated by the hot surface of the
CPU and then exits the outlet on the right. Also, the upper surface of the CPU is as a q’’ uniform flux, which heat enters the domain and
the other walls of the CPU and mini-channel are insulated. On the other hand, the walls of the mini-channel are completely insulated
from heat and mass. The NPCM’s core was made of n-nonadecane, which was melted near the CPU’s surface. In this simulation, L was
considered by 2 cm.

1.2. Assumptions and governing equations

In the present problem, it was assumed that the mixture of water and NPCM is homogeneous and incompressible. Also, NPCMs do
not change shape and size in phase change. In addition, any external force except gravity doesn’t affect the flow, and it can be
mentioned that the flow was regarded as steady and 2D. Therefore, with the aforementioned assumptions, the PDE’s governing
equations including conservation of mass, momentum, and energy can be listed as follows [44]:
∇.V = 0 (1)

ρM (V.∇)V = − ∇P + μM ∇.(∇V) (2)

( )
ρM V.∇ Cp, M T = kM ∇.(∇T) (3)

Equation (2) is momentum balance (left side) with pressure gradient and viscous force (right side). Also, Equation (3) is enthalpy
balance with received heat from walls by conduction. Cp, M is inside of the divergence term, because Cp, M is a function of temperature in
which the effects of phase change are involved. In the above equations, ρM , μM , kM are a function of volume fraction and also Cp, M is a

Table 1
Properties of water-NPCM mixture for different values of volume fraction [45,50].

φ =0 φ =1 φ =2 φ =3

density 995.6 993.04 990.5 987.2

Dynamic viscosity ( × 10− 6 ) 797 897 998.1 1100
Thermal conductivity 0.615 0.6147 0.679 0.698
Specific heat capacity 4180 4162 + 7091*f 4144 + 14219*f 4126 + 21383*f
⎧
( ) ⎨ 0 if T < 30.32 ◦ C
T − 30.44 C
◦
f = sin π × 1 if 30.32 < T < 30.55 ◦ C
0.24 ⎩
0 if T < 30.55 ◦ C

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H. Wu et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 30 (2022) 101719

function of volume fraction and temperature. Study [50] measured experimentally the thermal conductivity and dynamic viscosity of
water and NPCM with n-nonadecane as core and polyurethane as a shell. Thus, in this study, the thermal conductivity and dynamic
viscosity of the mixture were extracted from laboratory data’s study [50] for more precision of results, which are presented according
to Table 1 for different values of volume fraction. On another side, the Specific heat capacity was extracted by available relations in
Ref. [45], which is formulated in Table 1.
The governing equations are closed and solved with the following boundary conditions:
Inlet: V( y) = VIn , T(y) = TIn
CPU: V = 0, ∇T.n = kqM
′′

Wall: V = 0, ∇T.n = 0
Outlet: ∇V.n(y) = 0, ∇T.n(y) = 0
Which TIn is 30◦ C. Also, VIn is calculated from the Reynolds number of water (see Fig. 1).

1.3. Procedure and verification

With the mentioned assumptions and governing equations, the finite volume method (FVM) was implemented for discretizing
domain to simulate the forced convection of water and NPCM. Also, a SIMPLE algorithm was used to couple the velocity and pressure
fields. The divergence and Laplacian terms were discretized by the Gaussian upwind bounded and the Gaussian linear orthogonal
schemes, respectively. the residuals must be defined for each CFD simulation to stop running. The residuals describe the ratio of the
difference between the value of a parameter in the current iteration with the previous iteration to the current iteration, which is less
than the unit. A run will be finished when residuals are much less than the unit, which in this study, the residuals were set 10− 5 , 10− 4 ,
and10− 6 for pressure, velocity, and temperature, respectively. Moreover, the structured mesh with zero non-orthogonality was
employed to mesh the used geometry to the small volumes. Fig. 2 demonstrates that the maximum temperature of the CPU is pro­
portional to the mesh number. The variation of Tmax is low after the 62,000 meshes by observing the results of Fig. 2. So, the 62,000
meshes can be chosen for simulating other cases.
Maiga et al. [51] have numerically investigated the forced convection of water and alumina through a tube with constant heat flux.
Validating the present simulation has been compared with the average Nusselt number of Maiga et al. [34] in Re = 250 according to
Fig. 3. By comparing between results in Fig. 3 can say that the results of the current study are matched with the results of Maiga et al.
[51].

2. Results and discussion

An important parameter in the cooling system for CPUs is the maximum temperature. On other hand, the critical temperature of a
CPU in many industries is low than 90◦ C [2,14]. Thus, the Reynolds number must cool the CPU low than 90◦ C and its temperature
should be reduced because of using practical in industries. By running many cases for Reynolds number, Reynolds numbers between 50
and 100 are the appropriate value for Re. Many important parameters such as Reynolds number, volume fraction, and heat flux of CPU
was studied to understand their effects on stream Function, temperature, melting fraction contours, and temperature distribution of
CPU’s surface.
Figs. 4 and 5 show the streamlines, vortices, and temperature contours of the Re = 50 and 100. According to Figs. 4 and 5 a, the
streamlines are parallel in the inlet of the mini channel, which after reaching to CPU, the flow rate was increased due to the decrement
of the cross-section at beginning of CPU, and the streamlines approach each other to satisfy the mass conservation. After the flow passes
on the CPU, the cross-section was increased and the streamlines slowly distance from each other because of mass conservation. It can
also be noted that a clockwise vortex forms in the right of the end of the CPU where it is trapped. The vortex rotates clockwise because
the flow in its above is in the output direction and it must be rotated as clockwise.
Comparing the vortices of Figs. 4 and 5 a) for Reynolds numbers 50 and 100, respectively, it can be said that the increase in flow
velocity led to an enlargement of the trapped vortex downstream and the center of the vortex was shifted downstream. By observing
Figs. 4 and 5 b) for the temperature contours, a temperature boundary layer was formed on the surface of the CPU, and an increase in

Fig. 1. The schematic of mini-channel with an installed CPU in the bottom of mini-channel.

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H. Wu et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 30 (2022) 101719

Fig. 2. The investigation of sensitivity mesh when Re = 100, q′′ = 104 mW2 , φ = 3%.

Fig. 3. The comparison of present results with Maiga et al. [34] at point of view average Nusselt number.

Reynolds number led to narrowing. in other words, the density of temperature contours is observed near the CPU by increasing the
Reynolds number. It can also be noted that the hot stream was trapped on the right side of the CPU. Because there was a trapped vortex
that does not allow to stream to escape from this zone.
CPUs may release different heat fluxes due to processing volume. This increase in heat flux also causes more heat to penetrate the
flow, resulting in more NPCM being melted. Therefore, Fig. 6 is presented to investigate the temperature contours in different heat
fluxes for Reynolds numbers 50 and 100. In the Reynolds number 50 (Fig. 6 a), the temperature contours near the right side of the CPU
was slightly changed with increasing heat flux, and also the maximum CPU’s surface temperature at q’’ = 104 mW2 is 52.2◦ C, which with
increasing heat flux by two and three times, maximum CPU’s surface temperature was enhanced by 20.1 and 46.2 ◦ C, respectively. On
the other hand, the maximum CPU’s surface temperature at q’’ = 1, 2, and 3 × 104 mW2 are 46.9, 64.7, and 82.5◦ C for Reynolds number
100 (according to Fig. 6 b). So, increment of Reynolds number from 50 to 100 led to the condensation of temperature contours near the
CPU’s surface and this increment reduced the maximum CPU’s surface temperature 5.3 to 15.9 ◦ C for all heat fluxes.
Fig. 7 is provided to observe the melting fraction of NPCM along the mini-channel. In all cases in Fig. 7, a boundary layer of melting
fraction is seen on the CPU’s surface because as the flow passed on the CPU, the heat has penetrated the flow in which causes more
NPCM to melt. The flow velocity was decreased after passing NPCMs on the CPU, which can be seen that a large volume of NPCM was
melted behind the CPU. According to Fig. 7 for both Reynolds numbers 50 and 100, enhancing q’’ led to an increase in the melting
fraction because more heat was penetrated the flow, as result, more NPCMs were melted. On the other side, increasing the Reynolds
number from 50 to 100 reduces the melting fraction because the velocity of the mixture was increased and there was not enough time
for heat to penetrate the flow to melt NPCM.
A very important parameter in CPU cooling is the temperature distribution and the maximum temperature of the CPU. Fig. 8 shows
the temperature distribution on the CPU’s surface for different volume fractions within a graph. In all cases, it can be said that the cold
flow reaches the beginning of the CPU’s surface with a temperature of 31◦ C, as a result of which the temperature of the beginning of the
CPU’s surface was equal to the temperature of the inlet flow.
As the flow passes over the CPU’s surface, it heats up, causing the temperature of the CPU’s surface to rise nonlinearly. Further­
more, by observing the cases according to Fig. 8 for three rows, it can be noted that adding 1% volume fraction of NPCM did not affect
the temperature distribution, but increasing the volume fraction to 2 and 3% decreased the temperature of the CPU’s surface, which
the effects of adding NPCM were more visible along CPU’s surface.

2.1. Exergoeconomic performance

Every innovation needs to examine the economic aspects of the project. There is entropy production in heat transfer and mass

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H. Wu et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 30 (2022) 101719

Fig. 4. a) the streamlines and vortex, and b) temperature contours of water when Re = 50, φ = 0.02, and q ′ CPU = 104 mW2 .
′

processes. in this simulation, net profit per unit transferred heat load (ηp ) and total price of unit transferred heat load (ηc ) was studied to
observe the effects of various parameters. It is necessary to calculate the following relations to compute ηp and ηc , which are first
Tw ρM 2 Cp,M d2
defined as dimensionless numbers such as θ = ΔT
T
i
, NTi = ΔT
T0 , NTW =
i
μM 2 , ΔTi = Tw − Ti . So, we have [47]:
w

[ ( )]
( ) 1 − θ × e− 4StNL
ΔEq = ṁCp,M T0 NTi 1 − e− 4StNL
− ln (4)
1− θ
[ ( )]
fr Re3 Pr 1− θ
ΔEp = − ṁCp,M T0 − 4StNL + ln − 4StN
(5)
8Nu NTW 1− θ×e L

[ ( ) ]
fr Re3 Pr 1 − θ × e− 4StNL ( )
ΔET = ṁCp,M T0 ln − θ 1 − e− 4StNL
(6)
8Nu NTW 1− θ

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H. Wu et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 30 (2022) 101719

Fig. 5. a) the streamlines and vortex, and b) temperature contours of water when Re = 100, φ = 0.02, and q ′ CPU = 104 mW2 .
′

Which ΔEq , ΔEp , and ΔET denote recovered heat exergy rate due to temperature difference, consumed flow (mechanical) exergy rate
due to pressure drop flow, and the heat exergy destruction rate. To calculate the mentioned economic parameters the NPV and TCV are
determined as:
( )
NPV = τ εq ΔEq − εp ΔEp − [I0 − SV × PF] × AP (7)
( )
TCV = τεq ΔET − αp ΔEp + [I0 − SV × PF] × AP (8)

i
PF = (1 + i)− n , AP = (9)
1 − PF

I0 = λL × L, εp = αp εq (10)

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H. Wu et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 30 (2022) 101719

Fig. 6. The temperature contours (◦ C) of mixture flow when φ = 0.02 for a) Re = 50 and b) Re = 100 to observe the impacts of various heat fluxes.

Which NPV and TCV are the annual net profit value due to the initial investment of equipment and the annual total cost. Moreover, SV,
PF, and AP describe the salvage value at the end of year n, present worth and capital-recovery factors. Finally, ηp and ηc can be
examined as:
NPV
ηp = (11)
τQ̇

TCV
ηc = (12)
τQ̇
To compute the above formula, many constant parameters such as ambient temperature, annual operating time, cost of unit length

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H. Wu et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 30 (2022) 101719

Fig. 7. The fraction melting contours of mixture flow when φ = 0.02 for a) Re = 50 and b) Re = 100 to observe the effects of various heat fluxes and Rey­
nolds numbers.

mini-channel, interest rate, the life of mini-channel, the unit price of heat exergy, and weighting factor are needed, which the employed
economic parameters in present simulation can be listed according to Table 2.
Now, the effects of Reynolds number and heat flux of CPU can be investigated on ηp and ηc by regarding values of Tables 3 and 4 for
the volume fraction of 3%. According to Table 3 and the same Reynolds number, increasing heat flux led to an increase the ηp . Because
increasing heat flux enhances the temperature gradient, as result, recovered heat exergy rate due to temperature difference (ΔEq ) was
enhanced. Also, in the same heat flux, enhancing the Reynolds number increased the ηp by 100 times to be increased the recovered heat
exergy rate due to gradient pressure (ΔEp ). By observing Table 4 and the same heat flux can be figured out that increment of Reynolds
number decreases the ηc by 100 times. Because increasing Re evaluated the recovered heat exergy rate due to gradient pressure (ΔEp ).
Also, at Re = 50 and 100, increasing heat flux reduced ηc , respectively. because increasing heat flux increases heat exergy destruction

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H. Wu et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 30 (2022) 101719

( ) ( ) ( )
Fig. 8. Temperature distribution on CPU’s surface first row q′′ CPU = 1 × 104 mW2 , second row q′′ CPU = 2 × 104 mW2 , and third row q′′ CPU = 3 ×104 mW2 for a) Re =
50 and b) Re = 100.

rate.

3. Conclusion
In the present simulation, a CPU with high heat flux was embedded in the bottom of a mini-channel to be cooled. Also, for better
cooling, water flow with Nano-encapsulated Phase Change Material (NPCM) enters the mini-channel, which the core and shell of

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H. Wu et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 30 (2022) 101719

Table 2
The employed economic parameters in this study.

Parameters Symbol

Ambient temperature (T0 ) 296 K

Annual operating time (τ) 2.6 × 107 s
Cost of unit length mini-channel (λL ) 80 $/
m
Interest rate (i) 10%
Life of mini-channel (n) 15 years
Ducts’ salvage value (SV) 0$
The unit price of heat exergy (εq ) 3.4 × 10− 8 $/
j
Weighting factor (αp ) 4

Table 3
( )
Value of ηp $/ for examining the effects of adverse parameters at φ = 3%.
j

Re = 50 Re = 100

− 7
− 4.285 × 10 − 6.301 × 10− 9
q′′ CPU = 1 ×
W
104
m2
7
− 2.192 × 10− − 9.121 × 10− 9
q′′ CPU = 2 ×
W
104
m2
7
− 1.515 × 10− − 1.078 × 10− 9
q′′ CPU = 3 ×
W
104
m2

Table 4
( )
Value of ηc $/ for examining the effects of adverse parameters at φ = 3%.
j

Re = 50 Re = 100

7
4.182 × 10− − 4.306 × 10− 9
q′′ CPU = 1 ×
W
104
m2
7
2.047 × 10− − 1.021 × 10− 8
q′′ CPU = 2 ×
W
104
m2
7
1.310 × 10− − 1.256 × 10− 8
q′′ CPU = 3 ×
W
104
m2

NPCM were n-nonadecane with melting temperature of 30.44◦ C and polyurethane, respectively. In the results section, various pa­
rameters such as Reynolds number, volume fraction, and CPU heat flux were analyzed and the results show that:
• An increase in Reynolds led to be enlarged trapped vortex downstream.
• Increasing Reynolds and CPU heat flux decreased and increased the melting fraction, respectively.
• Increasing CPU heat flux from 104 to 3 × 104 at Reynolds numbers 50 and 100 raised the maximum temperature of CPU’s surface
by 46.2 and 35.6◦ C, respectively.
• Enhancement of Reynolds number from 50 to 100 at q’’ = 3 × 104 cools the maximum temperature of the CPU’s surface from
98.4 to 82.5◦ C.
• Adding a 3% volume fraction of NPCM at the Reynolds number 50 cools the maximum temperature of the CPU’s surface by 2.27◦ C.
• Increment of Reynolds number from 50 to 100 increased the net profit per unit transferred heat load (ηp ) by 100 times.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Hexi Wu: Resources, Software preparation, Conceptualism, Formal analysis, Investigation. Xinye Wu: Writing - review & editing,
Investigation. Li Feng: Resources, Formal analysis. Mohammad Mehdizadeh Youshanlouei: Writing-original draft, Mesh genera­
tion, Post processing, Software.

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H. Wu et al. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering 30 (2022) 101719

Declaration of competing interest

No conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful for the financial support provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.52000036)
and the Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangzhou City (No. 202102021061).

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