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Seed bubbles trigger boiling heat transfer in silicon microchannels

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Abstract

The smooth channel surface of microsystems delays boiling incipience in heated microchannels. In this paper, we use seed bubbles to trigger boiling heat transfer and control thermal non-equilibrium of liquid and vapor phases in parallel microchannels. The test section consisted of a top glass cover and a silicon substrate. Microheater array was integrated at the top glass cover surface and driven by a pulse voltage signal to generate seed bubbles in time sequence. Each microheater corresponds to a specific microchannel and is located in the microchannel upstream. Five triangular microchannels with a hydraulic diameter of 100 μm and a length of 12.0 mm were etched in the silicon substrate. A thin platinum film was deposited at the back surface of silicon chip with an effective heating area of 4,500 × 1,366 μm, acting as the main heater for the heat transfer system. Acetone liquid was used. With the data range reported here, boiling incipience was not initiated if wall superheats are smaller than 15°C without seed bubbles assisted. Injection seed bubbles triggers boiling incipience and controls thermal non-equilibrium between liquid and vapor phases successfully. Four modes of flow and heat transfer are identified. Modes 1, 2, and 4 are the stable ones without apparent oscillations of pressure drops and heating surface temperatures, and mode 3 displays flow instabilities with apparent amplitudes and long periods of these parameters. The four modes are divided based on the four types of flow patterns observed in microchannels. Seed bubble frequency is a key factor to influence the heat transfer. The higher the seed bubble frequency, the more decreased non-equilibrium between two phases and heating surface temperatures are. The seed bubble frequency can reach a saturation value, at which heat transfer enhancement attains the maximum degree, inferring that a complete thermal equilibrium of two phases is approached. The saturation frequency is about a couple of thousand Hertz in this study.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China with the contract number of 50825603.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Micro Energy System Laboratory, Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Science, 510640, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Guohua Liu & Jinliang Xu

  2. Beijing Key Laboratory of Energy Safety and Clean Utilization, North China Electric Power University, 102206, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Yongping Yang

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  1. Guohua Liu
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  2. Jinliang Xu
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  3. Yongping Yang
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Correspondence to Jinliang Xu or Yongping Yang.

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Liu, G., Xu, J. & Yang, Y. Seed bubbles trigger boiling heat transfer in silicon microchannels. Microfluid Nanofluid 8, 341–359 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-009-0465-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-009-0465-y

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