Three-Dimensional Numerical Study on Freezing Phase Change Heat Transfer in Biological Tissue Embedded With Two Cryoprobes

Author(s):  
Fang Zhao ◽  
Zhenqian Chen ◽  
Mingheng Shi

A mathematical model for phase change heat transfer in cryosurgery was established. In this model, a fractal tree-like branched network was used to describe the complicated geometrical frame of blood vessel. The temperature distribution and ice crystal growth process in biological tissue including normal tissue and tumor embedded with two cryoprobes were numerically simulated. The effects of cooling rate, initial temperature and distance of two cryoprobes on freezing process of tissue were also studied. The results show that the ice crystal grows more rapidly in the initial freezing stage and then slows down in the following process, and the pre-cooling of cryoprobes has no obvious effect on freezing rate of tissue. It also can be seen that the distance of 10 mm between two cryoprobes is the most appropriate choice for operation effect in the range of operating conditions presented in this study.

Author(s):  
Fang Zhao ◽  
Zhenqian Chen

Biological tissues undergo complex phase change heat transfer processes during cryosurgery, and a theoretical model is preferable to forecast this heat experience. A mathematical model for phase change heat transfer in cryosurgery was established. In this model, a fractal treelike branched network was used to describe the complicated geometrical frame of blood vessels. The temperature distribution and ice crystal growth process in biological tissue including normal tissue and tumor embedded with two cryoprobes were numerically simulated. The effects of cooling rate, initial temperature, and distance of two cryoprobes on freezing process of tissue were also studied. The results show that the ice crystal grows more rapidly in the initial freezing stage (<600 s) and then slows down in the following process, and the precooling of cryoprobes has no obvious effect on freezing rate of tissue. It also can be seen that the distance of 10 mm between two cryoprobes produces an optimal freezing effect for the tumor size (20 mm × 10 mm) in the present study compared with the distances of 6 mm and 14 mm. The numerical results are significant in providing technical reference for application of cryosurgery in clinical medicine.


Author(s):  
H. X. Liang ◽  
Q. W. Wang ◽  
L. Q. Luo ◽  
Z. P. Feng

Three-dimensional numerical simulation was conducted to investigate the flow field and heat transfer performance of the Cross-Wavy Primary Surface (CWPS) recuperators for microturbines. Using high-effective compact recuperators to achieve high thermal efficiency is one of the key techniques in the development of microturbine in recent years. Recuperators need to have minimum volume and weight, high reliability and durability. Most important of all, they need to have high thermal-effectiveness and low pressure-losses so that the gas turbine system can achieve high thermal performances. These requirements have attracted some research efforts in designing and implementing low-cost and compact recuperators for gas turbine engines recently. One of the promising techniques to achieve this goal is the so-called primary surface channels with small hydraulic dimensions. In this paper, we conducted a three-dimensional numerical study of flow and heat transfer for the Cross-Wavy Primary Surface (CWPS) channels with two different geometries. In the CWPS configurations the secondary flow is created by means of curved and interrupted surfaces, which may disturb the thermal boundary layers and thus improve the thermal performances of the channels. To facilitate comparison, we chose the identical hydraulic diameters for the above four CWPS channels. Since our experiments on real recuperators showed that the Reynolds number ranges from 150 to 500 under the operating conditions, we implemented all the simulations under laminar flow situations. By analyzing the correlations of Nusselt numbers and friction factors vs. Reynolds numbers of the four CWPS channels, we found that the CWPS channels have superior and comprehensive thermal performance with high compactness, i.e., high heat transfer area to volume ratio, indicating excellent commercialized application in the compact recuperators.


Author(s):  
Yasmin Khakpour ◽  
Jamal Seyed-Yagoobi

This numerical study investigates the effect of using a blend of micro-encapsulated phase change materials (MEPCMs) on the heat transfer characteristics of a liquid in a rectangular enclosure driven by natural convection. A comparison has been made between the cases of using single component MEPCM slurry and a blend of two-component MEPCM slurry. The natural convection is generated by the temperature difference between two vertical walls of the enclosure maintained at constant temperatures. Each of the two phase change materials store latent heat at a specific range of temperatures. During phase change of the PCM, the effective density of the slurry varies. This results in thermal expansion and hence a buoyancy driven flow. The effects of MEPCM concentration in the slurry and changes in the operating conditions such as the wall temperatures compared to that of pure water have been studied. The MEPCM latent heat and the increased volumetric thermal expansion coefficient during phase change of the MEPCM play a major role in this heat transfer augmentation.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yousef Kanani ◽  
Avijit Karmakar ◽  
Sumanta Acharya

Abstract We numerically investigate the melting and solidi?cation behavior of phase change materials encapsulated in a small-radii cylinder subjected to a cyclic convective boundary condition (square wave). Initially, we explore the effect of the Stefan and Biot numbers on the non-dimensionalized time required (i.e. reference Fourier number Tref ) for a PCM initially held at Tcold to melt and reach the cross?ow temperature Thot. The increase in either Stefan or Biot number decreases Tref and can be predicted accurately using a correlation developed in this work. The variations of the PCM melt fraction, surface temperature, and heat transfer rate as a function of Fourier number are reported and analyzed for the above process. We further study the effect of the cyclic Fourier number on the periodic melting and freezing process. The melting or freezing front initiates at the outer periphery of the PCM and propagates towards the center. At higher frequencies, multiple two-phase interfaces are generated (propagating inward), and higher overall heat transfer is achieved as the surface temperature oscillates in the vicinity of the melting temperature, which increases the effective temperature difference driving the convective heat transfer.


2010 ◽  
Vol 97-101 ◽  
pp. 2736-2743
Author(s):  
Shi Xiong Ren ◽  
Sha Sha Dang ◽  
Tao Lu ◽  
Kui Sheng Wang

Three-dimensional models of heat transfer have been established and numerically solved using a commercial software package, Fluent, in order to obtain distributions of temperature, velocity, pressure, and liquid volume fraction of the polymer. The influences of the boundary conditions on the phase change of the polymer and the temperature distribution in the die have been evaluated. The results show that the temperature of the region close to the pelletizing surface is relatively low due to the cooling effect of the cool water, while the temperature deeper inside the die is higher, with a lower temperature gradient, as a result of the heating effect of the hot thermal oil and the polymer. A solidification phase change of the polymer occurs near the polymer outlet due to heat loss from the polymer to the water, while deeper inside the hole the polymer remains fluid without solidification, due to heating by the thermal oil. Numerical simulation provides a reliable method to optimize the design of the die, the choice of metallic material for the die, and the operating conditions of the polymer pelletizing under water.


Author(s):  
Yasmin Khakpour ◽  
Jamal Seyed-Yagoobi

This paper numerically investigates the flow and heat transfer characteristics of a slurry of micro encapsulated phase change materials (MEPCM) and R134a in the presence of film evaporation. The numerical domain is comprised of a minichannel in contact with a finite thickness solid zone with constant wall temperature. During the evaporation process, the concentration of MEPCM in the slurry increases, resulting in a continuous variation of effective thermal properties of the slurry. The effect of PCM concentration on the evolution of the liquid film thickness under different operating conditions along with the variation of the local heat transfer coefficients has been studied. A user defined function has been developed to incorporate the evaporation process by introducing the mass and energy source terms for the evaporation process as well as the variation of the MEPCM concentration along the channel.


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