Enhancing Jet Array Heat Transfer: Review of Geometric Features of Nozzle and Target Plates

Adequate cooling of electronic components and packages is an ever-increasing challenge as devices become more powerful, compact, and portable. Highly integrated and high-performance solutions are sought across a wide range of industrial and commercial sectors, requiring new methods and means of cooling beyond the traditional fan-fin heat sink. Impinging jets, when arranged in arrays, can achieve very high local and surface-averaged heat transfer coefficients whilst providing sufficient surface area coverage for a broad range of electronic devices. As such, they are a high-potential candidate for next generation heat exchangers for cooling high heat flux electronics. This review article focusses primarily on the means by which the heat transfer of impinging jet arrays can be enhanced by straight-forward alterations of the geometric features of the jet orifices, nozzle plate, and impingement surface, as compared with the baseline case of round jets impinging on flat surfaces. From non-circular jets, to patterned micro-roughness, the review aims to collate and synthesize the state-of-the-art, highlighting advantages and pitfalls, to aid thermal engineers in designing high performance jet impingement heat exchangers.