Subcooled flow boiling in ultrahigh-aspect-ratio microchannels for high heat flux cooling

Abstract

In present work, the numerical simulation and experimental investigations were performed on the subcooled flow boiling behavior in ultrahigh-aspect-ratio microchannel heat sink (AR = 25). As the heat flux is low, the unique discotic bubble expands the condensation area while ensuring an adequate evaporation area in the channel. When the heat flux increases, the violently fluctuating liquid-vapor interface forms a throat shape that effectively reduces the cross-section of vapor flow. Furthermore, the flow pattern of annular flow at the channel bottom and nucleate bubble at the channel top realizes a combined heat transfer mechanism (nucleate boiling and liquid film evaporation occurs simultaneously). Moreover, the phenomenon of “droplet inside the bubble” caused by bubble coalescence also significantly enhances the thermal process. The fluctuation of local pressure drop in UARM acts gently, which effectively inhibits the boiling instability, and its average value can be reduced by 68.9%. The maximum CHF reaches 1258.1 W/cm2 under a mass flux of 410.2 kg/(m2·s) based on the experimental data, indicating a tremendous potential for the efficient heat dissipation.