Injection, Transport and Removal of Gas Bubbles in Microchannels for Heat Transfer Enhancement

Author(s):  
Daniel Attinger

Liquid cooling is an efficient way to remove heat fluxes with magnitudes up to 10,000 W/cm2. One limitation of single-phase microchannel heat transfer is the relatively low Nusselt number, due to laminar flow. Several methods have been used to improve the Nusselt number such as geometric obtrusions, pins and fins and nanofluids. In this talk, we experimentally investigate the heat transfer enhancement of a heat sink where air bubbles are periodically injected. The segmented flow pattern generates recirculation loops that enhance transport phenomena. We show that segmented flow can enhance the Nusselt number of laminar flows in short channels by a factor two. Also, we demonstrate a simple and high-throughput method for removing bubbles from microchannels, using a hydrophobic porous membrane. The role of the thin liquid film coating the bubbles in the heat transfer and the bubble removal is investigated.

Author(s):  
K. Alrbee ◽  
Y. S. Muzychka ◽  
X. Duan

This paper focuses on heat transfer in mini scale tubes under laminar developing flow conditions for a constant wall temperature boundary condition. An experimental study was preformed using Aluminum Oxide nanoparticles (< 50nm) for continuous and segmented fluid streams. A two step method was employed to prepare several samples of aluminum oxide nanofluid with different concentrations 0.25, 0.5 and 1% by volume. Heat transfer enhancement in mini scale tubes (∼1 mm) was assessed using the dimensionless Graetz parameter L*, dimensionless mean wall heat flux q*, and Nusselt number Nu. In this study we investigate the effect of nanofluid concentration on laminar heat transfer enhancement in mini-scale circular tube under continuous and segmented flow using gas as a segmenting medium. The initial results show a maximum of 10–65% enhancement of Nusselt number as compared with pure water under the same conditions as a function of L*. For the upper limit of concentration of 1% Al2O3 nanofluid, the friction factor was found to be less than 5% greater, which means a small sacrifice on pumping power is to be expected. This study provides new insights on the thermal behaviour of nanofluids under laminar developing flow and segmented flow conditions in straight tubes.


2015 ◽  
Vol 93 (7) ◽  
pp. 725-733 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Ghalambaz ◽  
E. Izadpanahi ◽  
A. Noghrehabadi ◽  
A. Chamkha

The boundary layer heat and mass transfer of nanofluids over an isothermal stretching sheet is analyzed using a drift-flux model. The relative slip velocity between the nanoparticles and the base fluid is taken into account. The nanoparticles’ volume fractions at the surface of the sheet are considered to be adjusted passively. The thermal conductivity and the dynamic viscosity of the nanofluid are considered as functions of the local volume fraction of the nanoparticles. A non-dimensional parameter, heat transfer enhancement ratio, is introduced, which shows the alteration of the thermal convective coefficient of the nanofluid compared to the base fluid. The governing partial differential equations are reduced into a set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations using appropriate similarity transformations and then solved numerically using the fourth-order Runge–Kutta and Newton–Raphson methods along with the shooting technique. The effects of six non-dimensional parameters, namely, the Prandtl number of the base fluid Prbf, Lewis number Le, Brownian motion parameter Nb, thermophoresis parameter Nt, variable thermal conductivity parameter Nc and the variable viscosity parameter Nv, on the velocity, temperature, and concentration profiles as well as the reduced Nusselt number and the enhancement ratio are investigated. Finally, case studies for Al2O3 and Cu nanoparticles dispersed in water are performed. It is found that increases in the ambient values of the nanoparticles volume fraction cause decreases in both the dimensionless shear stress f″(0) and the reduced Nusselt number Nur. Furthermore, an augmentation of the ambient value of the volume fraction of nanoparticles results in an increase the heat transfer enhancement ratio hnf/hbf. Therefore, using nanoparticles produces heat transfer enhancement from the sheet.


2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (09) ◽  
pp. 1350060 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. NAZARI ◽  
M. H. KAYHANI ◽  
R. MOHEBBI

The main goal of the present study is to investigate the heat transfer enhancement in a channel partially filled with an anisotropic porous block (Porous Foam) using the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). Combined pore level simulation of flow and heat transfer is performed for a 2D channel which is partially filled with square obstacles in both ordered and random arrangements by LBM which is not studied completely in the literature. The effect of the Reynolds number, different arrangements of obstacles, blockage ratio and porosity on the velocity and temperature profiles inside the porous region are studied. The local and averaged Nusselt numbers on the channel walls along with the respective confidence interval and comparison between results of regular and random arrangements are presented for the first time. For constant porosity and block size, the maximum value of averaged Nusselt number in the porous block is obtained in the case of random arrangement of obstacles. Also, by decreasing the porosity, the value of averaged Nusselt number is increased. Heat transfer to the working fluids increases significantly by increasing the blockage ratio. Several blockage ratios with different arrangements are checked to obtain a correlation for the Nusselt number.


2012 ◽  
Vol 135 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Neil Jordan ◽  
Lesley M. Wright

An alternative to ribs for internal heat transfer enhancement of gas turbine airfoils is dimpled depressions. Relative to ribs, dimples incur a reduced pressure drop, which can increase the overall thermal performance of the channel. This experimental investigation measures detailed Nusselt number ratio distributions obtained from an array of V-shaped dimples (δ/D = 0.30). Although the V-shaped dimple array is derived from a traditional hemispherical dimple array, the V-shaped dimples are arranged in an in-line pattern. The resulting spacing of the V-shaped dimples is 3.2D in both the streamwise and spanwise directions. A single wide wall of a rectangular channel (AR = 3:1) is lined with V-shaped dimples. The channel Reynolds number ranges from 10,000–40,000. Detailed Nusselt number ratios are obtained using both a transient liquid crystal technique and a newly developed transient temperature sensitive paint (TSP) technique. Therefore, the TSP technique is not only validated against a baseline geometry (smooth channel), but it is also validated against a more established technique. Measurements indicate that the proposed V-shaped dimple design is a promising alternative to traditional ribs or hemispherical dimples. At lower Reynolds numbers, the V-shaped dimples display heat transfer and friction behavior similar to traditional dimples. However, as the Reynolds number increases to 30,000 and 40,000, secondary flows developed in the V-shaped concavities further enhance the heat transfer from the dimpled surface (similar to angled and V-shaped rib induced secondary flows). This additional enhancement is obtained with only a marginal increase in the pressure drop. Therefore, as the Reynolds number within the channel increases, the thermal performance also increases. While this trend has been confirmed with both the transient TSP and liquid crystal techniques, TSP is shown to have limited capabilities when acquiring highly resolved detailed heat transfer coefficient distributions.


2009 ◽  
Vol 131 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhi-Min Lin ◽  
Liang-Bi Wang

The secondary flow has been used frequently to enhance the convective heat transfer, and at the same flow condition, the intensity of convective heat transfer closely depends on the thermal boundary conditions. Thus far, there is less reported information about the sensitivity of heat transfer enhancement to thermal boundary conditions by using secondary flow. To account for this sensitivity, the laminar convective heat transfer in a circular tube fitted with twisted tape was investigated numerically. The effects of conduction in the tape on the Nusselt number, the relationship between the absolute vorticity flux and the Nusselt number, the sensitivity of heat transfer enhancement to the thermal boundary conditions by using secondary flow, and the effects of secondary flow on the flow boundary layer were discussed. The results reveal that (1) for fully developed laminar heat convective transfer, different tube wall thermal boundaries lead to different effects of conduction in the tape on heat transfer characteristics; (2) the Nusselt number is closely dependent on the absolute vorticity flux; (3) the efficiency of heat transfer enhancement is dependent on both the tube wall thermal boundaries and the intensity of secondary flow, and the ratio of Nusselt number with twisted tape to its counterpart with straight tape decreases with increasing twist ratio while it increases with increasing Reynolds number for both uniform wall temperature (UWT) and uniform heat flux (UHF) conditions; (4) the difference in the ratio between UWT and UHF conditions is also strongly dependent on the conduction in the tape and the intensity of the secondary flow; and (5) the twist ratio ranging from 4.0 to 6.0 does not necessarily change the main flow velocity boundary layer near tube wall, while Reynolds number has effects on the shape of the main flow velocity boundary layer near tube wall only in small regions.


Author(s):  
Justin Moon ◽  
J. Rafael Pacheco ◽  
Arturo Pacheco-Vega

In this study, three-dimensional numerical simulations are performed to investigate heat transfer enhancement in multi-harmonic micro-scale wavy channels. The focus is on the influence of channel surface-topography, modeled as multi-harmonic sinusoidal waves of square cross-sectional area, on the enhancing mechanisms. A single-wave device of 0.5 mm × 0.5 mm × 20 mm length, is used as baseline, and new designs are built with harmonic-type surfaces. The channel is enclosed by a solid block, with the bottom surface within the sinusoidal region being exposed to a 47 W/cm2 heat flux. The numerical solutions of the governing equations for an incompressible laminar flow and conjugate heat transfer are obtained via finite elements. By using the ratio of the Nusselt number for wavy to straight channels, a parametric analysis — for a set of cold-water flowrates (Re = 50, 100, and 150) — shows that the addition of harmonic surfaces enhances the transfer of energy and that such ratio achieves the highest value with wave harmonic numbers of n = ±2. Use of a performance factor (PF), defined as the ratio of the Nusselt number to the pressure drop, shows that, surprisingly, the proposed wavy multi-harmonic channels are not as efficient as the single-wave geometries. This outcome is thought to be, primarily, due to the uncertainty associated with the definition of the Nusselt number used in this study, and establishes a direction to investigate the development of a more accurate definition.


2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ankit Tiwari ◽  
Savas Yavuzkurt

The goal of this study is to evaluate the computational fluid dynamic (CFD) predictions of friction factor and Nusselt number from six different low Reynolds number k–ε (LRKE) models namely Chang–Hsieh–Chen (CHC), Launder–Sharma (LS), Abid, Lam–Bremhorst (LB), Yang–Shih (YS), and Abe–Kondoh–Nagano (AKN) for various heat transfer enhancement applications. Standard and realizable k–ε (RKE) models with enhanced wall treatment (EWT) were also studied. CFD predictions of Nusselt number, Stanton number, and friction factor were compared with experimental data from literature. Various parameters such as effect of type of mesh element and grid resolution were also studied. It is recommended that a model, which predicts reasonably accurate values for both friction factor and Nusselt number, should be chosen over disparate models, which may predict either of these quantities more accurately. This is based on the performance evaluation criterion developed by Webb and Kim (2006, Principles of Enhanced Heat Transfer, 2nd ed., Taylor and Francis Group, pp. 1–72) for heat transfer enhancement. It was found that all LRKE models failed to predict friction factor and Nusselt number accurately (within 30%) for transverse rectangular ribs, whereas standard and RKE with EWT predicted friction factor and Nusselt number within 25%. Conversely, for transverse grooves, AKN, AKN/CHC, and LS (with modified constants) models accurately predicted (within 30%) both friction factor and Nusselt number for rectangular, circular, and trapezoidal grooves, respectively. In these cases, standard and RKE predictions were inaccurate and inconsistent. For longitudinal fins, Standard/RKE model, AKN, LS and Abid LRKE models gave the friction factor and Nusselt number predictions within 25%, with the AKN model being the most accurate.


Author(s):  
Amy Rachel Betz ◽  
Daniel Attinger

Liquid cooling is an efficient way to remove heat fluxes with magnitude of 1 to 10,000 W/cm2. One limitation of current single-phase microchannel heat sinks is the relatively low Nusselt number, because of laminar flow. In this work, we experimentally investigate how to enhance the Nusselt number in the laminar regime with the periodic injection of non-condensable bubbles in a water-filled array of microchannels in a segmented flow pattern. We designed a polycarbonate heat sink consisting of an array of parallel microchannels with a low ratio of heat to convective resistance, to facilitate the measurement of the Nusselt Number. Our heat transfer and pressure drop measurements are in good agreement with existing correlations, and show that the Nusselt number of a segmented flow is increased by more than a hundred percent over single-phase flow provided the mass velocity is within a given range.


Author(s):  
Xianchang Li ◽  
J. Leo Gaddis ◽  
Ting Wang

Internal mist/steam blade cooling technology has been considered for the future generation of Advanced Turbine Systems (ATS). Fine water droplets about 5 μm were carried by steam through a single slot jet onto a concave heated target surface in a confined channel to simulate inner surface cooling at the leading edge of a turbine blade. Experiments covered Reynolds numbers from 7,500 to 22,000 and heat fluxes from 3 to 21 kW/m2. The general level of heat transfer coefficient is, within experimental uncertainty, the same as the flat surface at comparable conditions. The experimental results indicate that the cooling is enhanced significantly near the stagnation point by the mist, decreasing downstream. Unlike impingement onto a flat plate the enhancement continues at all points downstream. Similar to the results of the flat surface, the heat transfer enhancement declines at higher heat fluxes. Up to 200% heat transfer enhancement at the stagnation point was achieved by injecting approximately 0.5% of mist.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document