Heat transfer augmentation in a radial curved microchannel

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.

Experimental Investigation of Centrifugal Flow in Rotor–Stator Cavities at High Reynolds Numbers >108

The designers of radial turbomachinery need detailed information on the impact of the side chamber flow on axial thrust and torque. A previous paper investigated centripetal flow through narrow rotor–stator cavities and compared axial thrust, rotor torque and radial pressure distribution to the case without through-flow. Consequently, this paper extends the investigated range to centrifugal through-flow as it may occur in the hub side chamber of radial turbomachinery. The chosen operating conditions are representative of high-pressure centrifugal compressors used in, for example, carbon capture and storage applications as well as hydrogen compression. To date, only the Reynolds number range up to Re=2·107 has been investigated for centrifugal through-flow. This paper extends the range to Reynolds numbers of Re=2·108 and reports results of experimental and numerical investigations. It focuses on the radial pressure distribution in the rotor–stator cavity and shows the influence of the Reynolds number, cavity width and centrifugal mass flow rate. It therefore extends the range of available valid data that can be used to design radial turbomachinery. Additionally, this analysis compares the results to data and models from scientific literature, showing that in the higher Reynolds number range, a new correlation is required. Finally, the analysis of velocity profiles and wall shear delineates the switch from purely radial outflow in the cavity to outflow on the rotor and inflow on the stator at high Reynolds numbers in comparison to the results reported by others for Reynolds numbers up to Re=2·107.

CFD analysis for thermal performance augmentation of solar air heater using deflector ribs

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.