Experimental analysis of subcooled flow boiling in a microchannel evaporator of a pumped two-phase loop

Abstract

High-power electronics exceed the heat dissipation capability of conventional air or liquid-based forced convection cooling systems. A pumped two-phase loop (P2PL) utilizing phase change heat transfer can effectively transport and dissipate high heat fluxes generated from the electronics at very small thermal resistance while consuming negligible pumping power. Existing research primarily focuses on standalone evaporators with fixed boundary conditions, neglecting the interactions between the evaporator and other components within the P2PL. This knowledge gap hinders the comprehensive understanding of system performance. To address this need, an experimental study was conducted to examine subcooled flow boiling in a microchannel evaporator of P2PL using R-134a. The parameters used for the investigation are evaporator heat input, mass flux, chiller loop inlet temperature, and fluid charge ratio. Additionally, flow visualization through a sight glass tube at the evaporator outlet was used to identify the two-phase flow regimes, namely – the onset of nucleate boiling, bubbly, slug, stratified, annular, and mist flow. The dominant flow boiling mechanisms and its transitions in the microchannel were identified based on the varying slopes of the boiling curves. The dynamic responses were additionally utilized to differentiate between single-phase and two-phase flows as well as to identify the propagation of dryout in the microchannel evaporator. The study further revealed that for a constant wall superheat, within the convective boiling dominant regime, the heat transfer rate in the evaporator exhibits an increase with the mass flow rate. In contrast, in the nucleate boiling dominant regime, the heat transfer rate remains unaffected by the mass flow rate. Furthermore, it was found that as the fluid charge ratio increases, the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop in the evaporator decreases.