Heat transfer augmentation in a radial curved microchannel

Author(s):  
Nitin Kumar Mamidi ◽  
Karthik Balasubramanian ◽  
Kiran Kumar Kupireddi ◽  
V P Chandramohan ◽  
Poh Seng Lee ◽  
...  

Rapid advancement toward miniaturization has emerged with confront for superior heat dissipation techniques. Of all the available cooling systems, microchannel-based cooling systems stand out to provide better cooling performance through superior heat removal abilities. In the present study, the cooling performance and hydraulic flow characteristics of a radial curved microchannel with three curvature ratios were numerically investigated and compared with a radial straight microchannel. Unlike the conventional straight microchannels, curved channels possess better fluid mixing as a result of the centrifugal force caused due to curvature. This phenomenon has a significant effect on heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics. Work on radial curved microchannels has been scarce and there is a lot of potential to augment the heat transfer with lower pumping power particularly with a central inlet. A three-dimensional conjugate heat transfer analysis was carried out for three radial curved microchannels and a radial straight microchannel using the ANSYS Fluent commercial software with the Reynolds number range of 125–275. The results showed a Nusselt number increment of 36.38% for radial curved microchannels when compared to the radial straight microchannel. Further, the lowest average wall temperature was noted for the radial curved microchannel with a curvature ratio of 0.17 which was 15.63 °C lower when compared to that in a radial straight microchannel for the same Reynolds number. Contours of velocity and temperature are presented at various locations along the stream to aid the results. The overall performance of all three radial curved microchannels was found to be higher than that of the radial straight microchannel in the Reynolds number range considered, out of which the maximum performance factor of 1.245 was obtained for the radial curved microchannel with a curvature ratio of 0.17 as compared to the radial straight microchannel.

1990 ◽  
Vol 112 (2) ◽  
pp. 336-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Greiner ◽  
R.-F. Chen ◽  
R. A. Wirtz

Experiments on heat transfer augmentation in a rectangular cross-section water channel are reported. The channel geometry is designed to excite normally damped Tollmien-Schlichting modes in order to enhance mixing. In this experiment, a hydrodynamically fully developed flow encounters a test section where one channel boundary is a series of periodic, saw-tooth, transverse grooves. Free shear layers span the groove openings, separating the main channel flow from the recirculating vortices contained within each cavity. The periodicity length of the grooves is equal to one-half of the expected wavelength of the most unstable mode. The remaining channel walls are flat, and the channel has an aspect ratio of 10:1. Experiments are performed over the Reynolds number range of 300 to 15,000. Streakline flow visualization shows that the flow is steady at the entrance, but becomes oscillatory downstream of an onset location. This location moves upstream with increasing Reynolds numbers. Initially formed traveling waves are two dimensional with a wavelength equal to the predicted most unstable Tollmien-Schlichting mode. Waves become three dimensional with increasing Reynolds number and distance from onset. Some evidence of wave motion persists into the turbulent flow regime. Heat transfer measurements along the smooth channel boundary opposite the grooved wall show augmentation (65 percent) over the equivalent flat channel in the Reynolds number range 1200 to 4800. The degree of enhancement obtained is shown to depend on the channel Reynolds number, and increases with the distance from the onset location.


Author(s):  
Kai Xian Cheng ◽  
Zi Hao Foo ◽  
Kim Tiow Ooi

Microscale heat and fluid flow in macro geometries have been made practical in terms of cost and fabrication, by superimposing two macro geometries which are fabricated using readily-available CNC machining methods. Wavy-profile has been proposed to enhance heat transfer performance in the microchannel owing to the simplicity of geometry and feasibility to be fabricated using simple turning process. Experimental studies were conducted on single-phase, forced convective heat transfer using water as the working fluid for the Reynolds number range of 1300 to 4600, for a constant heat flux of 53.0 W/cm2. Three sinusoidal waves with different wavelength and same amplitude are studied to examine the effect of the total number of waves on the heat transfer and hydrodynamic performance within constant microchannel length. The maximum performance index, which evaluates heat transfer performance per unit pumping power, is 1.39, achieved by wavy profile with the shortest wavelength at Reynolds number of 2800. The performance index for all the enhanced microchannels peaks at the Reynolds number range of 2500 to 2800. Beyond that, the performance index is not a strong function of the wavelength. At lower Reynolds numbers, profile with the shortest wavelength achieves substantially higher performance indices, as the increment in pressure drop is accompanied by a comparable increment in heat transfer. Future work includes the introduction of correlations for the implementation of such geometries in industrial heat exchangers.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 7282-7295
Author(s):  
R. Venkatesh ◽  
Nitesh Kumar ◽  
N. Madhwesh ◽  
Manjunath M.S.

This paper presents the effect of deflector ribs on the thermal performance of flat plate solar air heater using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methodology. The analysis is carried out using two-dimensional computational domain for the Reynolds number range of 6000-18000. RNG k-є turbulence model is used to capture the turbulence characteristics of the flow. The deflector rib has a cross-section of isosceles triangle and is placed transversely with respect to the flow. The distance between consecutive ribs is varied as 40mm, 80mm, 160mm and 320mm while the air gap height is varied as 2mm, 3mm, 5mm and 10mm. The numerical model is validated against the well-known correlation of Dittus-Boelter for smooth duct. The simulation results reveal that the presence of deflector ribs provide augmented heat transfer through flow acceleration and enhanced turbulence levels. With reference to smooth duct, the maximum achieved heat transfer improvement is about 1.39 times for the inter-rib distance of 40mm and an air gap height of 3mm while the maximum fiction factor achieved was about 3.82 times for pitch value of 40mm and air gap height of 3mm. The highest thermal enhancement factor is achieved for the pitch value of 320mm and an air gap height of 3mm at Re=6000. The air gap height value of 10mm exhibits thermal enhancement factor values lesser than 1.0 and hence is not recommended for use as heat transfer enhancement device for the entire Reynolds number range used in the analysis. The pitch value of 320 mm exhibits thermal enhancement factor greater than 1.0 for almost all the Reynolds number range used in the analysis and varies between 0.93 and 1.07.


1987 ◽  
Vol 109 (3) ◽  
pp. 606-612 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Faghri ◽  
Y. Asako

A finite difference scheme was utilized to predict periodic fully developed heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics in a converging–diverging flow channel. The basis of the method is an algebraic nonorthogonal coordinate transformation which maps the complex fluid domain onto a rectangle. This transformation avoids the task of numerically generating boundary-fitted coordinates. The transformed equations and the entire discretization procedure were documented in an earlier paper which dealt with a general class of nonperiodic problems. Its adaptation to a periodic sample problem of converging–diverging flow channel will be illustrated in this work. Representative results were carried out for laminar flow, Prandtl number of 0.7, in the Reynolds number range from 90 to 1635, for various taper angles of converging–diverging flow channel, and for three ratios of maximum/minimum height of the flow channel. Moderate enhancement in the Nusselt number results occurred, at higher values of Reynolds number for most cases, when compared with corresponding values for straight ducts.


2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 465-478
Author(s):  
Mahmoud Mostafa ◽  
Radwan Kamal ◽  
Mohamed Gobran

An experimental investigation has been conducted to clarify heat transfer characteristics and flow behaviors around an elliptic cylinder. Also, flow visualization was carried out to clarify the flow patterns around the cylinder. The elliptic cylinder examined has an axis ratio of 1:2.17, was placed in the focus of parabolic plate. The test fluid is air and the Reynolds number based on the major axis length, c, ranged from 5 x 103 to 3 x 104. The angle of attack (?) was changed from 0? to 90? at 15? interval. It is found that the pressure distribution, form drag, location of separation point, and heat transfer coefficient depend strongly upon the angle of attack. Over the Reynolds number range examined, the mean heat transfer coefficient is at its highest at ? = 60? - 90?. The values of heat transfer coefficient in the case of free cylinder are higher than those for cylinder/plate combination at all angles of attack and Reynolds number range examined.


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