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High viscous liquids as a source in micro-screw heat exchanger: fabrication, simulation and experiments

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Abstract

Viscous liquids can be encountered in many applications of micro devices. In this paper, an experimental and numerical simulation of a micro screw concentric tube heat exchanger is presented to determine the overall heat transfer coefficient and the amount of heat created by friction. The screw surface area and the increase in the viscosity of the liquid can raise the amount of heat created by friction and subsequently increase the amount of heat transferred in the micro concentric tube heat exchanger. Increasing the viscosity of the source can increase the overall heat transfer coefficient. The micro heat exchanger consists of a tube inside the screw placed inside a micro-channel. When the screw rotates, a net force is transferred to the fluid due to differential pressure on the depth of the thread and pressure gradient along the screw axis, thus causing the fluid to displace outside and inside the screw. A micro-screw heat exchanger was designed to maximize heat transfer from a liquid (viscous) in the cylinder to water in a tube inside a screw. Three-dimensional simulation of micro-screw heat exchanger was performed. The results obtained from CFD simulation have been compared with the experiments.

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Abbreviations

Q :

rate of heat transfer, (W)

\( {\mathop m\limits^ \cdot } \) :

mass flowrate of viscous liquid

T exit :

exit temperature of viscous liquid from the micro-heat exchanger

T inlet :

temperature of viscous liquid entering the micro-heat exchanger

C p :

constant pressure specific heat of viscous liquid

v·n:

the velocity component normal to the boundary ∑

θ :

the temperature of viscous liquid

X :

the vector of nodal unknowns such as velocity

th:

thread (m)

C h :

length of one turn of the helix curvature (m)

d :

screw diameter (m)

l :

screw length (m)

A 0 :

the area of the cylinder

A i :

the area of the tube in the screw

r i :

the radius of the tube inside the screw

r 0 :

the radius of the cylinder

h i :

the heat transfer coefficient of the water

h 0 :

the heat transfer coefficient of the viscous liquid

K :

the thermal conductivity

μ:

viscosity (Pa s)

ρ:

liquid density (kg/m3)

ω :

angular velocity (rpm)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Engineering, Concordia University, H3G 1M8, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Haifa El-Sadi, Nabil Esmail & Andreas K. Athienitis

Authors
  1. Haifa El-Sadi
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  2. Nabil Esmail
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  3. Andreas K. Athienitis
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Correspondence to Haifa El-Sadi.

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El-Sadi, H., Esmail, N. & Athienitis, A.K. High viscous liquids as a source in micro-screw heat exchanger: fabrication, simulation and experiments. Microsyst Technol 13, 1581–1587 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-006-0366-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-006-0366-x

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