Heat Transfer Scale Effect Analysis and Parameter Measurement of an Electrothermal Microgripper

An electrothermal microgripper is an important actuator in microelectromechanical and micro-operating systems, and its temperature field analysis is the core problem in research and design. Because of the small size of an electrothermal microgripper, its microscale heat transfer characteristics are different from those of the macrostate. At present, only a few studies on the heat transfer scale effect in electrothermal microgrippers have been conducted, and the heat transfer analysis method under the macrostate is often used directly. The temperature field analysed and simulated is different from the actual situation. In the present study, the heat transfer mechanism of an electrothermal microgripper in the microscale was analysed. The temperature field of a series of microscale heating devices was measured using microthermal imaging equipment, and the heat transfer parameters of the microscale were fitted. Results show that the natural convective heat transfer coefficient of air on the microscale can reach 60–300 times that on the macroscale, which is an important heat transfer mode affecting the temperature field distribution of the electrothermal microgripper. Combined with the finite element simulation software, the temperature field of the electrothermal microgripper could be accurately simulated using the experimental microscale heat transfer parameters measured. This study provides an important theoretical basis and data support for the optimal design of the temperature controller of the electrothermal microgripper.

3D Microscale Heat Transfer Model of the Thermal Properties of Wood-Metal Functional Composites Based on the Microstructure

This study presents a model for simulating the microscopic heat transfer processes in a wood-metal composite material. The model was developed by analyzing the microstructure of experimental samples comprising a melted alloy impregnated in a wood matrix. According to the thermal parameters of the materials and the boundary conditions, an analytical model of microscale heat transfer was established using Abaqus finite element analysis software. The model was validated experimentally by comparing temperature curves obtained via simulation and experiments; the resulting correlation coefficient was 0.96557. We then analyzed the temperature distribution of the composite material with different cell geometries and heat transfer conditions (heat transfer direction and applied temperature). The thermal properties of the unit cell models were in good agreement with the general trends predicted by several heat transfer equations. This study provides a method for analyzing the microscale heat transfer process in wood-based composites. In addition, the model framework characteristics can be used to evaluate the heat transfer mechanism of impregnated modified wood.

Experimental Performance Evaluation of Tubular Manifold Heat Exchanger

The present work demonstrates the use of manifold microchannel technology in conjunction with conventional macrogeometries to achieve superior performance compared to traditional heat exchangers. A novel tubular manifold heat exchanger is designed using three-dimensional (3D) printed manifold and conventional double enhanced tube. The experiments are performed using water as the working fluid and the manifold side heat transfer coefficient up to 9538 Wm−2K−1 with a low flowrate of 4.25 lpm is achieved with as low pressure drop as 323 Pa. A comparison with respect to thermal hydraulic performance of the results with a plate heat exchanger shows clear advantage of the proposed exchanger. Overall, microscale heat transfer characteristics are obtained by using relatively simple and economical fabrication techniques.