Extending the Applicability of the Flow Boiling Correlation to Low Reynolds Number Flows in Microchannels

Author(s):  
Satish Kandlikar ◽  
Prabhu Balasubramanian

As microchannels are applied in flow boiling applications, it is becoming apparent that the Reynolds number based on all liquid flow could approach values below 100. The earlier work by Kandlikar and Steinke (2002, 2003) provided modifications to the Kandlikar correlation (1990, 1991) by extending the range of the correlation to all-liquid Reynolds numbers in the range 1000–3000. The present work utilizes the newly available data on flow boiling in microchannels that cover the all-liquid flow Reynolds number between 50–500. A new correlation is developed in this range that is able to predict the flow boiling heat transfer coefficient and its trends with quality, heat flux and mass flux accurately within less than 15 percent mean deviation. It is noted that the correlation simply accounts for the change of the flow boiling mechanism without incorporating any additional empirical constants. The heat transfer mechanism during flow boiling at such low Reynolds numbers is altered considerably indicating strong presence of nucleate boiling mode of heat transfer.

2004 ◽  
Vol 126 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satish G. Kandlikar

The forces due to surface tension and momentum change during evaporation, in conjunction with the forces due to viscous shear and inertia, govern the two-phase flow patterns and the heat transfer characteristics during flow boiling in microchannels. These forces are analyzed in this paper, and two new nondimensional groups, K1 and K2, relevant to flow boiling phenomenon are derived. These groups are able to represent some of the key flow boiling characteristics, including the CHF. In addition, a mechanistic description of the flow boiling phenomenon is presented. The small hydraulic dimensions of microchannel flow passages present a large frictional pressure drop in single-phase and two-phase flows. The small hydraulic diameter also leads to low Reynolds numbers, in the range 100–1000, or even lower for smaller diameter channels. Such low Reynolds numbers are rarely employed during flow boiling in conventional channels. In these low Reynolds number flows, nucleate boiling systematically emerges as the dominant mode of heat transfer. The high degree of wall superheat required to initiate nucleation in microchannels leads to rapid evaporation and flow instabilities, often resulting in flow reversal in multiple parallel channel configuration. Aided by strong evaporation rates, the bubbles nucleating on the wall grow rapidly and fill the entire channel. The contact line between the bubble base and the channel wall surface now becomes the entire perimeter at both ends of the vapor slug. Evaporation occurs at the moving contact line of the expanding vapor slug as well as over the channel wall covered with a thin evaporating film surrounding the vapor core. The usual nucleate boiling heat transfer mechanisms, including liquid film evaporation and transient heat conduction in the liquid adjacent to the contact line region, play an important role. The liquid film under the large vapor slug evaporates completely at downstream locations thus presenting a dryout condition periodically with the passage of each large vapor slug. The experimental data and high speed visual observations confirm some of the key features presented in this paper.


2005 ◽  
Vol 127 (11) ◽  
pp. 1214-1221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weizhong Zhang ◽  
Takashi Hibiki ◽  
Kaichiro Mishima

In view of significance of a heat transfer correlation of flow boiling under the conditions of low liquid Reynolds number or liquid laminar flow, and very few correlations in principle suitable for such flow conditions, this study is aiming at developing a heat transfer correlation of flow boiling at low liquid Reynolds number for small diameter channels. The correlation is developed based on superimposition of two main flow boiling mechanisms, namely nucleate boiling and forced convection. In the correlation, two terms corresponding to nucleate boiling and forced convection are obtained from the pool boiling correlation by Forster and Zuber and the analytical annular flow model by Hewitt and Hall-Taylor, respectively. An extensive comparison with a collected database indicates that the developed correlation works satisfactorily with mean deviation and rms errors of 19.1% and 24.3%, respectively, under many experimental conditions such as different channel geometries (circular and rectangular) and flow orientations (vertical and horizontal) for some test fluids (water, R11, R12, and R113). A detailed discussion reveals that existing correlations for turbulent flow boiling such as Chen’s correlation, Schrock and Grossman’s correlation, and Dengler and Addoms’s correlation may be derived from a generalized form of the newly developed correlation.


Author(s):  
M. P. Mihelish ◽  
F. E. Ames

Engine companies typically emphasize research which has been conducted at conditions as close to engine conditions as possible. This focus on engine relevant conditions often causes difficulties in University research laboratories. One particularly difficult testing regime is high speed but low Reynolds number flows. High speed low Reynolds number flows can occur in both low pressure turbines under a normal range of engine operating conditions and in high pressure turbines run at very high altitudes. This paper documents a new steady state closed loop wind tunnel facility which has been developed to study high speed cascade flows at low Reynolds numbers. The initial test configuration has been representative of a first stage vane configuration for a UAV turbofan which flies at a very high altitude. The initial test section was configured in a three full passage four-vane linear cascade arrangement with upper and lower bleed flows. Both heat transfer and aerodynamics loss measurements were acquired and are presented in this paper. Heat transfer measurements were taken at a Reynolds number of 720,000 based on true chord and exit conditions at Mach numbers of 0.7, 0.8, and 0.9. Exit survey measurements were conducted at a chord exit Reynolds number of 720,000 over a similar range in Mach numbers. However, this facility has the capability to run at chord Reynolds numbers of 90,000 or below in the present configuration which uses an approximately three times scale test vane.


2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miles Greiner ◽  
Paul F. Fischer ◽  
Henry Tufo

Abstract The effect of flow rate modulation on low Reynolds number heat transfer enhancement in a transversely grooved passage was numerically simulated using a two-dimensional spectral element technique. Simulations were performed at subcritical Reynolds numbers of Rem = 133 and 267, with 20% and 40% flow rate oscillations. The net pumping power required to modulate the flow was minimized as the forcing frequency approached the predicted natural frequency. However, mixing and heat transfer levels both increased as the natural frequency was approached. Oscillatory forcing in a grooved passage requires two orders of magnitude less pumping power than flat passage systems for the same heat transfer level. Hydrodynamic resonance appears to be an effective method of increasing heat transfer in low Reynolds number systems where pumping power is at a premium, such as micro heat transfer applications.


Author(s):  
Y. F. Xue ◽  
M. Z. Yuan ◽  
J. J. Wei

Experiments of flow boiling heat transfer coefficient of FC-72 were carried out over simulated silicon chip of 10×10×0.5 mm3 for electronic cooling. Four kinds of micro-pin-fins with the dimensions of 30×60, 30×120, 50×60, 50×120 μm2 (thickness, t × height, h) respectively, were fabricated on the chip surfaces by the dry etching technique to enhance boiling heat transfer. A smooth chip was also tested for comparison. The experiments were conducted at three different fluid velocities (0.5, 1 and 2m/s) and three different liquid subcoolings (15, 25 and 35K). All micro-pin-finned surfaces show a considerable heat transfer enhancement compared to the smooth surface. Both the forced convection and nucleate boiling heat transfer contribute to the total heat transfer performance. The contribution of each factor to the total heat transfer has been clearly presented in the flow boiling heat transfer coefficient curves. In a lower heat flux region, the heat transfer coefficient increases greatly with increasing fluid velocity, but increases slightly with increasing heat flux, indicating that the single-phase forced convection dominates the heat transfer process. With further increasing heat flux to the onset of nucleate boiling, the heat transfer coefficient increases remarkably. For a given liquid subcooling, the curves of flow boiling heat transfer coefficient at fluid velocities of 0.5 and 1 m/s almost follow one line for each surface, showing insensitivity of nucleate boiling heat transfer to fluid velocity. However, at the largest fluid velocity of 2 m/s, the slope of the flow boiling heat transfer coefficient curves for micro-pin-finned surfaces becomes smaller, indicating that the forced convection also plays an important role besides the nucleate boiling heat transfer. The curves of the flow boiling heat transfer coefficient can be used to determine the boiling incipience at different fluid velocities, which provides a basis for the suitable fluid velocity selection in designing highly efficient cooling scheme for electronic devices.


1990 ◽  
Vol 112 (1) ◽  
pp. 219-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. G. Kandlikar

A simple correlation was developed earlier by Kandlikar (1983) for predicting saturated flow boiling heat transfer coefficients inside horizontal and vertical tubes. It was based on a model utilizing the contributions due to nucleate boiling and convective mechanisms. It incorporated a fluid-dependent parameter Ffl in the nucleate boiling term. The predictive ability of the correlation for different refrigerants was confirmed by comparing it with the recent data on R-113 by Jensen and Bensler (1986) and Khanpara et al. (1986). In the present work, the earlier correlation is further refined by expanding the data base to 5246 data points from 24 experimental investigations with ten fluids. The proposed correlation, equations (4) and (5), along with the constants given in Tables 3 and 4, gives a mean deviation of 15.9 percent with water data, and 18.8 percent with all refrigerant data, and it also predicts the correct hTP versus x trend as verified with water and R-113 data. Additional testing with recent R-22 and R-113 data yielded the lowest mean deviations among correlations tested. The proposed correlation can be extended to other fluids by evaluating the fluid-dependent parameter Ffl for that fluid from its flow boiling or pool boiling data.


1968 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. A. Hieber ◽  
B. Gebhart

Theoretical results are obtained for forced heat convection from a circular cylinder at low Reynolds numbers. Consideration is given to the cases of a moderate and a large Prandtl number, the analysis in each case being based upon the method of matched asymptotic expansions. Comparison between the moderate Prandtl number theory and known experimental results indicates excellent agreement; no relevant experimental work has been found for comparison with the large Prandtl number theory.


Author(s):  
Arun Kaushal ◽  
Gurpreet Singh ◽  
Subhash Chander ◽  
Anjan Ray

An experimental study has been conducted to determine the heat transfer characteristics for low Reynolds number turbulent swirling LPG/Air flames impinging on a flat surface. Effect of variation of Reynolds number (3000–7000), dimensionless separation distance (H/d = 1 to 6) and equivalence ratio (φ = 0.8 to 2) on heat transfer characteristics has been determined at constant swirl number of 4. Further, experiments were also conducted to investigate the effect of swirl number on heat transfer characteristics at Re = 7000, φ = 1.0 and H/d = 5. It has been concluded that the major drawback of flame impingement i.e., non-uniformity in the heating can be resolved by using swirling flames in place of non-swirling flames. With increase in Reynolds number the flame becomes longer and broader. Also, at higher Re the flame becomes noisy and violent because of the enhanced turbulences in the flame. A dip in the temperature was observed at the stagnation point at all Re and this dip was more significant at higher Re. At small separation distances (H/d = 1 and 2) and at large Reynolds numbers (Re = 7000) heating is comparatively more non-uniform because of close proximity of the visible reaction zone to the plate resulting in intense heating in the stagnation region. High average heat fluxes were obtained at low separation distances and at larger Reynolds numbers.


2017 ◽  
Vol 139 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Viral K. Patel ◽  
Jamal Seyed-Yagoobi

This paper extends previous liquid film flow boiling studies by including the effect of an additional electrohydrodynamic (EHD) force, namely, the dielectrophoretic (DEP) force. Rather than using only EHD conduction pumping of the liquid film to electro-wet the heater surface, a localized nonuniform electric field above the heater surface is established to generate a DEP force for improved vapor bubble extraction during the nucleate boiling regime. The effects of liquid film height and applied potential are studied as a function of heater superheat and heat flux. A brief analytical study is also used to estimate the expected DEP force magnitude to explain the results. All of the above studies are also used to quantify the enhancement in heat transfer that can be achieved when heat transport systems are driven or augmented by these two EHD mechanisms. The results show remarkable enhancement of up to 1217% in boiling heat transfer coefficient at a given superheat when both mechanisms are used simultaneously. The experimental data are important for applications in thermal management in terrestrial and space conditions.


Author(s):  
Koichi Hata ◽  
Suguru Masuzaki

The subcooled boiling heat transfer and the steady state critical heat fluxes (CHFs) in a short vertical SUS304-tube for the flow velocities (u = 17.28 to 40.20 m/s), the inlet liquid temperatures (Tin = 293.30 to 362.49 K), the inlet pressures (Pin = 842.90 to 1467.93 kPa) and the exponentially increasing heat input (Q = Q0 exp(t/τ), τ = 10 s) were systematically measured by the experimental water loop comprised of a multistage canned-type circulation pump with high pump head. The SUS304 test tubes of inner diameters (d = 3 and 6 mm), heated lengths (L = 33 and 59.5 mm), effective lengths (Leff = 23.3 and 49.1 mm), L/d (= 11 and 9.92), Leff/d (= 7.77 and 8.18), and wall thickness (δ = 0.5 mm) with average surface roughness (Ra = 3.18 μm) are used in this work. The inner surface temperature and the heat flux from non-boiling to CHF were clarified. The subcooled boiling heat transfer for SUS304 test tube was compared with our Platinum test tube data and the values calculated by other workers’ correlations for the subcooled boiling heat transfer. The influence of flow velocity on the subcooled boiling heat transfer and the CHF is investigated into details and the widely and precisely predictable correlation of the subcooled boiling heat transfer for turbulent flow of water in a short vertical SUS304-tube is given based on the experimental data. The correlation can describe the subcooled boiling heat transfer coefficients obtained in this work within 15% difference. Nucleate boiling surface superheats for the SUS304 test tube become very high. Those at the high liquid Reynolds number are close to the lower limit of Heterogeneous Spontaneous Nucleation Temperature. The dominant mechanisms of the flow boiling CHF in a short vertical SUS304-tube are discussed.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document