Rectangular Cross-section Microchannels Research Articles

Numerical Study on the Heat Dissipation Performance of Diamond Microchannels under High Heat Flux Density

Heat dissipation significantly limits semiconductor component performance improvement. Thermal management devices are pivotal for electronic chip heat dissipation, with the enhanced thermal conductivity of materials being crucial for their effectiveness. This study focuses on single-crystal diamond, renowned for its exceptional natural thermal conductivity, investigating diamond microchannels using finite element simulations. Initially, a validated mathematical model for microchannel flow heat transfer was established. Subsequently, the heat dissipation performance of typical microchannel materials was analyzed, highlighting the diamond’s impact. This study also explores diamond microchannel topologies under high-power conditions, revealing unmatched advantages in ultra-high heat flux density dissipation. At 800 W/cm2 and inlet flow rates of 0.4–1 m/s, diamond microchannels exhibit lower maximum temperatures compared to pure copper microchannels by 7.0, 7.2, 7.4, and 7.5 °C, respectively. Rectangular cross-section microchannels demonstrate superior heat dissipation, considering diamond processing costs. The exploration of angular structures with varying parameters shows significant temperature reductions with increasing complexity, such as a 2.4 °C drop at i = 4. The analysis of shape parameter ki indicates optimal heat dissipation performance at ki = 1.1. This research offers crucial insights for developing and optimizing diamond microchannel devices under ultra-high-heat-flux-density conditions, guiding future advancements in thermal management technology.

Thermal stress analysis in pin fin microchannel heat sink

The conjugate heat transfer and the thermal stresses produced within a pin-fin microchannel heat sink are investigated numerically. The pin-fin microchannel heat sink is subjected to a constant heat flux from the bottom surface and cooled by water flow through the channel across the pin fins. Rectangular cross-section microchannel incorporating one raw of square pin fins are considered. The water flowing through the microchannel at Reynolds number varies from 200 to 800. The heat sink dissipates constant heat flux in the range of 75-175 kW/m2. The selected materials used for the solid substrate are Copper, Aluminium, Titanium, and Structural steel. The results are presented as contour plots for the temperature, thermal stress, and deformation distribution. It is found that the heat dissipation and the Nusselt number are increased with increasing Reynolds number, increasing the thermal conductivity of the mate-rial but remain constant throughout various heat fluxes. Thermal stresses are increased with decreasing Reynolds number, increasing heat flux, and increasing Youngs’ Modulus of the substrate material. The total deformation is increased with decreasing Reynolds number, in-creasing heat flux, and increasing the thermal expansion coefficient of the substrate material.

Performance assessment of electro-osmotic flow of rectangular microchannels with smoothed corners

Microchannel heat sinks are a viable alternative to traditional thermal management systems when high fluxes over small surfaces are involved. To avoid high pressure drops especially when liquids are concerned, electro-osmotic flow, a phenomenon which is relevant at the microscales only, can be employed profitably. Joule heating, which occurs every time an electrical current is circulated through a conductor with finite electrical resistance, may hamper the application of electro-osmotic flows significantly; its effects must therefore be investigated, as should the influence of the entry length on the overall transport phenomena which occur in the microchannel, especially so since channels with uniform temperature at the walls tend to be somewhat short, to mitigate heat generation due to Joule heating. In this paper the transport phenomena occurring within a microchannel of rectangular cross-section with uniform wall temperature through which an electro-osmotic flow occurs is studied, while considering the flow fully developed hydrodynamically but thermally developing (Graetz problem). The corners are then smoothed progressively and the effect of this change in the shape of the cross-section over the non-dimensional dissipated power or temperature difference between wall and fluid is investigated using the performance evaluation criteria introduced by Webb. Correlations are suggested for the Poiseuille and Nusselt numbers for all configurations as are criteria to obtain the maximum allowable channel length, i.e. the length of the channel over which the walls start to cool the fluid, owing to Joule heating, in terms of the hydraulic diameter.

Deciphering viscoelastic cell manipulation in rectangular microchannels.

Viscoelastic focusing has emerged as a promising method for label-free and passive manipulation of micro and nanoscale bioparticles. However, the design of microfluidic devices for viscoelastic particle focusing requires a thorough comprehensive understanding of the flow condition and operational parameters that lead to the desired behavior of microparticles. While recent advancements have been made, viscoelastic focusing is not fully understood, particularly in straight microchannels with rectangular cross sections. In this work, we delve into inertial, elastic, and viscoelastic focusing of biological cells in rectangular cross-section microchannels. By systematically varying degrees of fluid elasticity and inertia, we investigate the underlying mechanisms behind cell focusing. Our approach involves injecting cells into devices with a fixed, non-unity aspect ratio and capturing their images from two orientations, enabling the extrapolation of cross-sectional equilibrium positions from two dimensional (2D) projections. We characterized the changes in hydrodynamic focusing behaviors of cells based on factors, such as cell size, flow rate, and fluid characteristics. These findings provide insights into the flow characteristics driving changes in equilibrium positions. Furthermore, they indicate that viscoelastic focusing can enhance the detection accuracy in flow cytometry and the sorting resolution for size-based particle sorting applications. By contributing to the advancement of understanding viscoelastic focusing in rectangular microchannels, this work provides valuable insight and design guidelines for the development of devices that harness viscoelastic focusing. The knowledge gained from this study can aid in the advancement of viscoelastic particle manipulation technique and their application in various fields.

Accurate modeling of blood flow in a micro-channel as a non-homogeneous mixture using continuum approach-based diffusive flux model

This paper presents a continuum approach for the blood flow simulation, inside the micro-channel of the few micrometers characteristics dimension, within the context of the finite volume method on unstructured grids. The velocity and pressure fields, for the blood flow, are obtained here by solving the Navier–Stokes equations. A particle transport equation, based on the diffusive flux model, provides the hematocrit distribution (i.e., the red blood cells volume-fraction). The momentum conservation equation for a non-Newtonian fluid model is coupled with the particle transport equation through the constitutive blood viscosity model, and this blood viscosity is dependent on hematocrit and shear rate. The continuum approach for blood flow inside the micro-channel of the length scale of a few micrometers to a few hundred micrometers is expected to break down. Interestingly, the present approach provides meaningful insights into biophysics with less computational cost and shows a good match with the experiments and mesoscale simulation with a maximum average deviation of 11% even at the characteristic dimensions of 10–300 μm. A correlation is proposed for additional-local shear rate in terms of the hematocrit and the ratio of red blood cells diameter to the channel diameter, which helps us to demonstrate an increase in the accuracy and also eliminates the issues of unphysical hematocrit reported in the earlier studies available in the literature. The study is extended to provide new results inside a square and rectangular cross section micro-channels, under a range of inlet parameters.

Bio-Mimicking Brain Vasculature to Investigate the Role of Heterogeneous Shear Stress in Regulating Barrier Integrity.

A continuous, sealed endothelial membrane is essential for the blood-brain barrier (BBB) to protect neurons from toxins present in systemic circulation. Endothelial cells are critical sensors of the capillary environment, where factors like fluid shear stress (FSS) and systemic signaling molecules activate intracellular pathways that either promote or disrupt the BBB. The brain vasculature exhibits complex heterogeneity across the bed, which is challenging to recapitulate in BBB microfluidic models with fixed dimensions and rectangular cross-section microchannels. Here, a Cayley-tree pattern, fabricated using lithography-less, fluid shaping technique in a modified Hele-Shaw cell is used to emulate the brain vasculature in a microfluidic chip. This geometry generates an inherent distribution of heterogeneous FSS, due to smooth variations in branch height and width. hCMEC/D3 endothelial cells cultured in the Cayley-tree designed chip generate a 3D monolayer of brain endothelium with branching hierarchy, enabling the study of the effect of heterogeneous FSS on the brain endothelium. The model is employed to study neuroinflammatory conditions by stimulating the brain endothelium with tumor necrosis factor-α under heterogeneous FSS conditions. The model has immense potential for studies involving drug transport across the BBB, which can be misrepresented in fixed dimension models.

Mechanistic model of combined pressure drop and heat transfer for the entire growth stage of an elongated bubble in a rectangular microchannel

A one-dimensional flow-boiling model for the slug-flow regime is formulated to describe the pressure drop and heat transfer mechanism in a microchannel of rectangular cross-section. The pressure drop model considers three stages of bubble growth namely: (i) partial confinement, (ii) full confinement and (iii) vapour venting. The heat transfer coefficient at any particular location is obtained by assuming the periodic passage of four zones: (i) liquid slug zone, (ii) elongated bubble zone, (iii) partially dryout zone, and (iv) fully dryout zone. The model is evaluated using constant fluid properties, to study the parametric variation of channel pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient. The effects of variation in channel dimension, flow velocity, heat flux and properties of working fluid on pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient have been studied using the model. The model is capable of simulating all the transport processes for a single bubble from its inception till it leaves the microchannel and thereby it can estimate the pressure drop in the channel along with the heat transfer coefficient i.e. spatially averaged over the channel length and at any location from channel upstream to the downstream end.

A hydrophobic porous substrate-based vapor venting technique for mitigating flow boiling instabilities in microchannel heat sink

With the onset of nucleation, flow boiling in microchannels is susceptible to undesirable flow instabilities resulting in fluctuating wall temperature and large pressure drops. It is imperative to develop a passive technique to mitigate flow boiling instabilities and enhance the thermo-hydraulic performance of the heat sink without additional pressure drops. The present work explores a hydrophobic porous polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate-based vapor venting technique to mitigate flow boiling instabilities in microchannels. The hydrophobic porous substrate fitted at the channel exit manifold attracts the vapor plug, assists in vapor venting, and thus facilitates the easy evacuation of the bubbles from the channel. Flow boiling experiments are performed with deionized water in rectangular cross-section microchannels for a heat flux range of 10–260 W/cm2 and the coolant mass flux range of 206–335.49 kg/m2s. Heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of the proposed configuration are compared with those of the conventional configuration. The proposed design suppresses the wall temperature oscillation and pressure oscillations. It produces a 32 % enhancement in heat transfer coefficient and a 63 % reduction in pressure drop compared to the conventional outlet configuration. The new configuration significantly reduces the bubble ebullition cycle, resulting in an efficient bubble evacuation from the channels. Further, frequent flushing of the vapor slug in the new design reduces the temperature fluctuations and enhances the heat transfer coefficient. The heat transfer augmentation is more pronounced at higher heat flux with more vapor generation rates.

A geometrical criterion for the dynamic snap-off event of a non-wetting droplet in a rectangular pore–throat microchannel

In porous media, non-wetting phase droplets snapping off in a constricted microchannel are one of the most common phenomena in two-phase flow processes. In this paper, the application range of the classic quasi-static criterion in rectangular cross section microchannels is obtained. For three different droplet breakup phenomena—total breakup, partial breakup, and non-breakup—observed in experiments when a non-wetting phase droplet passes through a microchannel constriction, the breakup is caused by the droplet neck snapping off in a channel constriction. A critical criterion for the dynamic snap-off event in a two-phase flow is proposed considering the effect of viscous dissipation by mechanical analysis, energy dissipation analysis, and many microfluidic experiments. When the droplet front flows out of the constriction, snap-off will occur if the surface energy release exceeds the required energy for viscous dissipation and kinetic energy conversion. The unique partial breakup phenomenon is affected by droplet surfactant distribution and the acceleration effect in the constriction center. This partial breakup phenomenon in experiments is an essential evidence for the non-uniform distribution of surfactants in the droplet surface. The results of this study contribute to understanding pore-scale mass transfer and flow pattern changes within porous media.

The effect of channel aspect ratio on flow boiling characteristics within rectangular micro-passages

In the present paper, a fundamental analysis on the effect of the channel aspect ratio on the bubble dynamics and heat transfer characteristics for the early transient stages of the bubble growth within confined microchannels of rectangular cross-section, under saturated flow boiling conditions, is conducted, utilising high resolution, 3D, transient, conjugate heat transfer simulations. The open-source toolbox OpenFOAM is applied for the simulations, utilising a custom, user-enhanced, diabatic Volume OF Fluid (VOF) solver. Two different series of numerical simulations are performed, focused on a single nucleation event from a single nucleation site and a single nucleation event from multiple, arbitrarily located, nucleation sites, respectively. In each series, three different values of channel aspect ratio are considered, corresponding to a narrow, a square, and a wide microchannel. For the first series, the simulations are performed for a low, a medium, and a high value of applied heat flux and mass flux. For the second series, only the lower values of applied heat flux and mass flux are used for each channel aspect ratio, since this constitutes the worst-case scenario from the overall heat transfer performance point of view, amongst the cases examined in the first series of simulations. The micro-passage aspect ratio has a significant effect in the generated bubble dynamics during the onset of the nucleate boiling regime, as the bubbles grow within the confined liquid crossflow. This alteration of the generated interfacial dynamics, in effect, regulates the size and position of the contact areas of the generated bubbles with the microchannel walls, with a direct effect in the individual contribution and therefore, the balance between the contact line and the liquid film evaporation mechanisms. Moreover, the work presents the quantification of the effect of the solid domain thermal inertia on the whole process and in particular on the local Nusselt numbers. It is evident that considering conjugate heat transfer in numerical simulations of flow boiling is compulsory in order to predict the physical processes in a correct form.

Microdevice based on centrifugal effect and bifurcation law for separation of plasma from on-line diluted whole blood.

In recent decades, scientific interest in the development of devices capable of performing routine clinical analyses through the application of standardized traditional laboratory protocols in a miniaturized lab-on-a-chip device has increased. In the present work, an innovative microdevice for the on-line whole blood dilution with a phosphate buffer solution (PBS) and separation of plasma was designed, manufactured, and characterized. The microdevice was constructed with a rectangular cross-section and spiral-shaped microchannels by photolithography and soft litography. Also, the widths of the diluted plasma and the remaining blood outlet microchannels were different to create a difference in the outlet flow rates to facilitate and achieve the plasma separation based on the combination of centrifugal effect (Dean drag force) and bifurcation law (Zweifach-Fung effect). The separation purity (α) under the separation conditions (total flow rates between 25 and 100 μL/min, entrance flow rate ratio PBS/whole blood between 4 and 10, and hematocrit (% HCT) between 3 and 8) was around 100% for fresh blood samples, while the separation efficiency (β) was between 8 and 13%. The concentration in the separated diluted plasma was between 0.1 and 0.7% (v/v) with plasma flow rates between 3 and 7 μL/min, respectively. The quality of the diluted and separated plasma from micordevice was corroborated from a blood sample from a patient diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis through the quantification of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) antibodies employing a microdevice immunoassay. The developed microdevice has a high potential to be coupled with the on-line detection of biomarkers.

Rectangular and Square Cross-Sections Microchannel Heat Sink CFD Simulation and Analytical Validation Using Liquid Water & Water-Aluminium Oxide Nanofluid as a Cooling Medium

In this study, cooling performance of copper material based microchannel heat sink was investigated using two different approaches which are CFD and Analytical. Microchannel heat sink with two different cross-sectional geometries of rectangular and square was considered for the present study. In the present work CFD simulation is carried out using two different cooling fluids which are liquid water and water-Al2O3 nanofluid. Nanofluid volume fraction of 0.3% was used for present study. Re number in between 200-1000 was used for the present study. For CFD simulation purpose heat sink of dimension of 25.4mm × 25.4mm × 2.384mm is considered in the study. Boundary condition of constant heat flux is assumed by providing heat flux at constant rate at bottom of the assembly. To compare between square and rectangular cross section microchannel heat sink, the hydraulic diameter is kept same in both the cases and CFD simulation was conducted. With using water-Al2O3 nanofluid as the working fluid the rectangular cross section is showing better performance in terms of cooling as compare to the square cross section. Drop in pressure results in rectangular section calculated using water Al2O3 nanofluid using both CFD and Analytical approach are in good agreement with difference of 13.4%

An analytical study on fluid flow characteristics for flow within a microchannel of rectangular cross section

The present work considers fluid flow analysis within a microchannel of rectangular cross section with different exact and approximate analytical techniques. Thus, velocity slip at the solid wall of the channel is considered. The slip flow is transformed to a no-slip flow with some minor modifications by applying an average slip velocity. The flow is represented by the Navier-Stokes equation exposed to slip boundary conditions. The governing equation is solved considering separation of variables method (SOV) as an exact method and, Integral and Variational methods as approximate methods. The Poiseuille number and slip coefficient are also determined for each method. The present prediction agrees well with available literature. To predict accuracy level of all the techniques, the results are presented in a comparative scale along with numerical prediction. It is observed that the accuracy level for the velocity profile obtained in each technique depends on the aspect ratio where as for the prediction of Poiseuille number and slip coefficient, all the technique show less dependency on the aspect ratio.

Numerical Investigation of Thermally Developing and Fully Developed Electro-Osmotic Flow in Channels with Rounded Corners

Electro-osmotic flow, that is, the motion of a polar fluid in microducts induced by an external electric field, is one micro-effect which allows fluid circulation without the use of mechanical pumping. This is of interest in the thermal management of electronic devices, as microchannels with cross sections of almost arbitrary shape can easily be integrated on the chips. It is therefore important to assess how the geometry of the channel influences the heat transfer performance. In this paper, the thermal entry region and the fully developed electro-osmotic flow in a microchannel of rectangular cross section with smoothed corners is investigated for uniform wall temperature. For the fully developed region, correlations for the Poiseuille and Nusselt numbers considering the aspect ratio and nondimensional smoothing radius are given, which can be used for practical design purposes. For thermally developing flow, it is highlighted how smoothing the corners increases the value of the local Nusselt number, with increases up to 18% over sharp corners, but that it also shortens the thermal entry length. It is also found that Joule heating in the fluid may cause a reversal of the heat flux, and that the thermal entry length has a linear dependence on the Reynolds number and the hydraulic diameter and on the logarithm of the nondimensional Joule heating.

Thermal characterization and stability analysis of aqueous ZnO-based nanofluids numerically implemented in microchannel heat sinks

Water-based nanofluids prepared with ZnO nanoparticles (⩽17 nm) were characterized. The thermal conductivity and viscosity were measured as a function of temperature (278–303 K), for two ZnO concentration (1wt% and 3wt%) establishing that, whereas the nanofluid prepared with a concentration of 1wt% registered an average improvement of the thermal conductivity of 10.31% at a concentration of 3wt%, the viscosity decreased an average of 5.03% respect to the base fluid. An analysis of the stability of these nanofluids was carried out via UV–vis, finding that for a concentration of 3wt% the stability is better, since it requires 168 h to decrease its absorbance in the same amount as the sample of 1wt%. Additionally, the laminar three-dimensional flow of these nanofluids has been numerically studied considering symmetric microchannels (200 ⩽Re⩽ 1200) of fixed-width rectangular cross-section (283 μm) and three different heights (200 μm, 600 μm, and 400 μm), subjected to a constant heat flux in the lower wall (50 W/cm2). The microchannels have been simulated considering the properties of the nanofluid variable with respect to temperature through experimentally determined models (for 1wt% and 3wt%), finding that thermal conductivity improves mostly for a concentration of 1wt%, registering an increase in average 10.31% in the studied temperature range.The numerical results showed that the use of nanofluids favors heat transfer at low Reynolds numbers with the maximum improvement in the coefficient of heat transfer by convection (42.33%). A decrease in temperature of the base of the microchannel is also observed, which is more significant at low Reynolds numbers for a concentration of 1wt%. In the case of MCH-1 with Re=200, the decrease in the mean temperature of the lower wall is 5.65% (20.45 K), a value that decreases to 0.90% (2.94 K) for Re=1200. This configuration also offers the highest net heat gain, considering the increase in the coefficient of friction produced by the incorporation of ZnO nanoparticles. Finally considering the experimental studies of the thermal properties and stability of nanofluids, and the numerical results associated with the thermal and fluid-dynamic performance of the microchannels, a methodology is proposed to carry out a comprehensive approach to the application of nanofluids in microchannels.

CFD Simulation and Analytical Validation of Rectangular and Square microchannel heat sink with liquid water as cooling medium

In present work, both analytical and CFD investigation was performed to check the microchannel heat sink cooling performance, made up of copper with two different microchannel cross sections with shape of rectangle and square. CFD analysis is conducted with water as working fluid for both of the cross sections and Reynolds number ranging from 600 to 1000. A copper microchannel heat sink with bottom size of 25.4mm×25.4mm and height of 2.384mm is selected and CFD analysis was carried out and at bottom constant heat flux boundary condition is assumed. For comparison between two cross sections, the hydraulic diameter used is same for both. Rectangular cross section microchannel showed better cooling performance as compared to square cross section microchannel. Both analytical and CFD simulation results of pressure drop in rectangular microchannel heat sink are in good agreement with a difference of 18.9%.

Thin liquid films formation and evaporation mechanisms around elongated bubbles in rectangular cross-section microchannels

Thin film evaporation is the dominant mechanism of heat transfer in the microchannel flow boiling process. Hence, its understanding is paramount to development of predictive models and more efficient microchannel heat exchangers. Although microchannels mostly have a rectangular cross-section, the existing models are developed for circular cross-section microchannels. The non-uniformity of the liquid film thickness in microchannels with a rectangular cross-section has made prediction of the onset of dryout and heat transfer coefficient greatly challenging. Here, a test device capable of measuring the wall heat flux is utilized to fully characterize the thin film formation and evaporation process. The effects of flow capillary number (Ca) and channel aspect ratio on the liquid film thickness are determined in microchannels with 300 μm width and 300, 150, and 75 μm heights, representing aspect ratios of 1, 2, and 4, respectively. It is shown that the only existing mechanistic model for the elongated bubble regime in microchannels fails to predict the experimental heat transfer coefficient (HTC) both quantitively, by a 50–120% margin, and qualitatively, due to a fundamental difference in evaporation and dryout of a variable versus a uniform film assumed in the model. The results presented here pave the way for development of a more accurate mechanistic model for the thin film evaporation heat transfer mechanism in microchannels with a rectangular cross-section.

Flow boiling characteristics in different configurations of stepped microchannels

Geometrical modifications in microchannel geometry intended towards mitigation of flow instabilities generally results in increased pressure drop across the microchannel heat sink. To overcome this, stepped microchannels configurations with combination of narrow bottom (aspect ratio: AR = depth/width > 1) and wider top (AR < 1) part are investigated and their flow boiling performances have been compared with rectangular cross-section microchannels (RMC) having same hydraulic diameter (350 μm). The effect of varying wider cross-section on flow boiling instability and heat transfer performance have been explored for three configurations of stepped microchannels namely: stepped straight microchannels (SMC), stepped converging microchannels (SCMC) and stepped diverging microchannels (SDMC). These geometrical variants are fabricated on a 10 × 10 mm2 copper block having nine parallel microchannels. Flow boiling experiments have been conducted using de-ionized (DI) water as coolant for an inlet subcooling of 20 °C, coolant mass fluxes ranging from 327.6 to 777.54 kg/m2s and for wide range of heat fluxes. Combination of narrow and wider converging/diverging flow passage improves flow stability by allowing bubbles in the confined narrow bottom to grow and expand in the wider top section thus reducing their evaporative momentum. Different flow regimes govern the heat transfer and pressure drop mechanisms while the compressible volume-liquid interaction dictates flow instability. Favorable surface tension gradient in SDMC alleviates flow instability whereas reduced flow resistance at the inlet in SCMC resulted in smooth rewetting during dry out. Amplitude and fluctuation of pressure drop is found to be minimum in SCMC among all geometric configurations, while better heat transfer performance has been observed in SDMC configuration.

On thermal performance of serpentine silicon microchannels

In the present study, three different serpentine microchannels (Rectangular, U and V) of rectangular cross-section with a channel span 24 mm were fabricated on a 0.525 mm thick (100) silicon substrate using micro-ultrasonic machining (micro-USM) technique. Thermal performance of the microchannels was experimentally investigated by making the working fluid (water) to flow through them at different Reynolds numbers (100–400) and at different heat fluxes (10 kW/m2, 20 kW/m2 and 30 kW/m2). Similar microchannels were modeled and analysed numerically simulating the experimental conditions. The performances of the microchannels obtained with the experimental as well as numerical results were compared in terms of pressure drop, substrate and fluid temperatures and heat transfer coefficient. The results indicate that the overall thermal performance of the microchannel heat sink mostly depends on the type of pattern as the fluid-substrate interaction area, defined by the Sink Area Factor (SAF), changes appreciably with the pattern. It was found that the U-serpentine microchannel exhibited the best thermal performance while compared to the other two serpentine microchannels. The sharp bends of the microchannel patterns and the surface roughness of the microchannel walls adversely affect the overall thermal performance of the microchannels. The study also outlines the need for a compromise in the Reynolds number, as higher Reynolds number tends to lower the overall thermal performance of the microchannels.

A novel stepped microchannel for performance enhancement in flow boiling

Flow boiling behavior in rectangular cross-section microchannel is influenced by its size and aspect ratio. For channels with same depth, small width microchannels show better flow stability owing to their early transition to annular flow at the cost of more pressure drop as compared to wider channels. In the present work, an effort has been made to integrate the effects of narrow and wider straight microchannel into a novel stepped converging microchannel. A novel design of stepped converging microchannels (SCMC) has been proposed and its performance in flow boiling has been compared with rectangular cross-section microchannel (RMC). The stepped converging microchannel is a combination of V-shape channel at the bottom and converging wider step channel at the top. Both the channels (SCMC and RCM) have been fabricated on a copper block with footprint area of 10 × 10 mm2. Flow boiling experiments have been performed with deionized water in nine numbers of parallel microchannels of hydraulic diameter Dh = 350 µm. Nucleating bubbles growing in the narrow V channels departs into the wider top flow passage providing additional space for their further growth. Moreover, converging step imparts additional inertial force to overcome the backward evaporative momentum of the vapor slug. SCMC configuration reported a maximum of 98% increase in heat transfer coefficient, whereas a maximum of 77% reduction in overall pressure drop compared to RMC. The stepped configuration also mitigates wall temperature and pressure drop fluctuations thus reducing flow boiling instability.