Abstract: A miniature laminate-plate heat exchanger was developed. The heat exchanger included multiple red copper plates，with two distribution chambers and microchannel array on the surface. Microchannels were machined by precise milling. The influences of microchannel depth，chamber shape and the orientation of heat exchanger on the heat transfer，flow resistance and comprehensive performance of heat exchanger were investigated by experiments. The result indicated that the magnitude of heat transfer-volume dominated the magnitude of heat transfer coefficient per unit volume，and the magnitude of heat transfer area per unit volume determined the magnitude of heat transfer coefficient per unit volume with the same magnitude of heat transfer volume. The microchannel depth showed more influence on the heat transfer performance，and the heat transfer performance of heat exchanger with 1 mm deep microchannels was improved by about 30%—60% than that of the heat exchanger with 2 mm deep microchannels. The orientation of heat exchanger greatly influenced flow resistance and comprehensive performance. Pressure drop decreased by about 26% and the comprehensive performance was improved by about 30% when the inlet of the heat exchanger was placed below.