Heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of R134a flow boiling in the parallel/tandem microchannel heat sinks

Two-phase heat transfer in microchannels can support very high heat fluxes for use in high-performance electronics-cooling applications. However, the effects of microchannel cross-sectional dimensions on the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop have not been investigated extensively. In the present work, experiments are conducted to investigate the local flow boiling heat transfer in microchannel heat sinks. The effect of channel size on the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop is studied for mass fluxes ranging from 250 to 1600 kg/m2s. The test sections consist of parallel microchannels with nominal widths of 100, 250, 400, 700, and 1000 μm, all with a depth of 400 μm, cut into 12.7 mm × 12.7 mm silicon substrates. Twenty-five microheaters embedded in the substrate allow local control of the imposed heat flux, while twenty-five temperature microsensors integrated into the back of the substrates enable local measurements of temperature. The dielectric fluid Fluorinert FC-77 is used as the working fluid. The results of this study serve to quantify the effectiveness of microchannel heat transport while simultaneously assessing the pressure drop trade-offs.

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Two-Phase Flow and Heat Transfer in Rectangular Micro-Channels

Journal of Electronic Packaging ◽

10.1115/1.1756589 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 126 (3) ◽

pp. 288-300 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Weilin Qu ◽

Seok-Mann Yoon ◽

Issam Mudawar

Keyword(s):

Heat Transfer ◽

Pressure Drop ◽

Flow Pattern ◽

Two Phase Flow ◽

Flow Boiling ◽

Flow Patterns ◽

Heat Sinks ◽

Phase Flow ◽

Micro Channel ◽

Two Phase

Knowledge of flow pattern and flow pattern transitions is essential to the development of reliable predictive tools for pressure drop and heat transfer in two-phase micro-channel heat sinks. In the present study, experiments were conducted with adiabatic nitrogen-water two-phase flow in a rectangular micro-channel having a 0.406×2.032mm2 cross-section. Superficial velocities of nitrogen and water ranged from 0.08 to 81.92 m/s and 0.04 to 10.24 m/s, respectively. Flow patterns were first identified using high-speed video imaging, and still photos were then taken for representative patterns. Results reveal the dominant flow patterns are slug and annular, with bubbly flow occurring only occasionally; stratified and churn flow were never observed. A flow pattern map was constructed and compared with previous maps and predictions of flow pattern transition models. Features unique to two-phase micro-channel flow were identified and employed to validate key assumptions of an annular flow boiling model that was previously developed to predict pressure drop and heat transfer in two-phase micro-channel heat sinks. This earlier model was modified based on new findings from the adiabatic two-phase flow study. The modified model shows good agreement with experimental data for water-cooled heat sinks.

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