Direct liquid cooling incorporating microchannels has drawn more and more attention due to its high heat removal ability; also the microchannel heat sink could be directly integrated into heat-dissipating devices. However, there are still some crucial challenges to be overcome. With regard to single-phase cooling, a conventional microchannel heat sink generally employs straight channels and the heat transfer is not efficient.

Flow boiling in microchannels dissipates significantly higher heat fluxes by utilising the latent heat of vaporisation, and another advantage is the greater temperature uniformity across the microchannel heat sinks as the phase-change process takes place at the fluid saturation temperature. However, the mechanism of convective flow boiling in microchannels (i.e., the boiling instability) is still not well understood which has impeded their implementation in practical applications. In this research, we will explore the fundamental flow physics of single and two-phase boiling flows in microchannels, and develop high-performance and energy-efficient microchannel heat sinks for various industry sectors.