Patent attributes
The present invention provides a microchannel heat sink with plural microchannels, each having a respective inlet and outlet to permit flow, in particular two-phase flow, of a working fluid. The plural microchannels are arranged such that adjacent microchannels accommodate flow of working fluid in opposite directions and are thermally coupled to each other to enable heat exchange between the corresponding adjacent microchannels. In one aspect, a microchannel inlet is positioned at an angle (e.g., 90 degrees) with respect to its outlet. The plural microchannels define parallel longitudinal axes that are optionally arranged on the same plane and/or side-by-side in a single layer. Further, in one aspect, each microchannel cross-sectional area increases as the channel length progresses from an upstream end (e.g., adjacent to the inlet) to a downstream end (e.g., adjacent to the outlet) of the corresponding microchannel.