Recent Studies on Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in Thermal Microdevices

Abstract

Control and measurement of fluid flow and heat transfer in microdevices is of great importance to the development and application of MEMS and Bio-MEMS such as thermal inkjet printer heads, microchemical reactors, and PCR. Thus, the detailed flow behavior, in particular the two-phase flow in microdevices, has attracted much attention in recent years. Several types of thermal micropumps have been developed, although there is still room for further development. Various techniques for measuring the temperature, which are applicable to microscale devices, have also been proposed. As the cooling problem in microdevices becomes increasingly significant, a prospective view on integrated heat and mass transfer is quite necessary. Thus, in this work, some issues and future prospects for fluid dynamics and heat transfer of thermal microdevices are presented and discussed, in terms of thermocapillary pump, temperature measurement in microdevices, and flow near an evaporating meniscus.