Analysis of flow pattern change in horizontal mini-channel under electric field force

Abstract

In this paper, the phenomenon of the flow pattern in the channel changes when the electric field force exists. Through the visual observation in the experiment, it is found that the study found that the bubble behavior was suppressed by the electric field force. When the electric field is large enough, the working fluid in the channel will always maintain a single-phase liquid flow. However, When there is enough superheat at the bottom of the mini-channel, the liquid film at the bottom of the liquid phase changes to a vapor phase, and the dryout appears in the channel, and it rapidly changes into a mist flow as the heating power increases. This phenomenon of flow pattern change due to electric field force is referred to herein as a flow pattern special phenomenon. Due to the existence of this special flow phenomenon, the temperature difference between the inlet and outlet of the working fluid in the channel has a large change. Through calculation, it is found that the dimensionless temperature difference between the inlet and outlet at a voltage of 200 V is 1.67 times that of 0 V. At the same time, the channel heat transfer coefficient increases with the increase of voltage.