Abstract
An experimental study of flow boiling through diverging microchannel has been carried out in this work, with the aim of understanding boiling in non-uniform cross-section microchannel. Diverging microchannel of 4° of divergence angle and 146 μm hydraulic diameter (calculated at mid-length) has been employed for the present study with deionised water as working fluid. Effect of mass flux (118–1182 kg/m2-s) and heat flux (1.6–19.2 W/cm2) on single and two-phase pressure drop and average heat transfer coefficient has been studied. Concurrently, flow visualization is carried out to document the various flow regimes and to correlate the pressure drop and average heat transfer coefficient to the underlying flow regime. Four flow regimes have been identified from the measurements: bubbly, slug, slug–annular and periodic dry-out/ rewetting. Variation of pressure drop with heat flux shows one maxima which corresponds to transition from bubbly to slug flow. It is shown that significantly large heat transfer coefficient (up to 107 kW/m2-K) can be attained for such systems, for small pressure drop penalty and with good flow stability.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Agrawal A and Singh S G 2011 A review of state-of-the-art on flow boiling of water in microchannel. Int. J. Microscale and Nanoscale Thermal and Fluid Transport Phenomena 2: 1–39
Agrawal A, Duryodhan V S and Singh S G 2012 Pressure drop measurements with boiling in diverging microchannel. Frontiers in Heat and Mass Transfer 3: 1–7
Bergles A E and Kandlikar S G 2005 On the nature of critical heat flux in microchannels. J. Heat Transfer 127(10): 101–107
Bhide R R, Singh S G, Sridharan A, Duttagupta S P and Agrawal A 2009 Pressure drop and heat transfer characteristics of boiling water in sub-hundred micron channel. Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 33: 963–975
Bhide R R, Singh S G, Sridharan A and Agrawal A 2011 An active control strategy for reduction of pressure instabilities during flow boiling microchannel. J. Micromechanics and Microengineering 21: 035021
Duryodhan V S, Singh S G and Agrawal A 2013 Liquid flow through a diverging microchannel. Microfluidics and Nanofludics 14(1–2): 53–67
Kandlikar S G 2002 Fundamental issues related to flow boiling in minichannels and microchannels. Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 26: 389–407
Kandlikar S G 2006 Nucleation characteristic and stability considerations during flow boiling in microchannels. Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 30: 441–447
Kandlikar S G and Balasubramanian P 2005 Effect of gravitational orientation on flow boiling of water in 1054 · 197 micron parallel minichannels. ASME Paper No. ICMM 2004-2379, In: Second International Conference on Microchannels and Minichannels, Rochester, NY, USA, 17–19 June 2004, J. Heat Transfer 127, pp. 539–550
Kennedy J E, Roach G M, Dowling M F, Abdel-Khalik S I, Ghiaasiaan S M and Jeter S M 2000 The onset of flow instability in uniformly heated horizontal microchannels. J. Heat Transfer 122: 118–125
Kosar A, Kuo C and Peles Y 2005 Boiling heat transfer in rectangular microchannels with reentrant cavities. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 48: 4867–4886
Kuo C J and Peles Y 2008 Flow boiling instabilities in microchannels and means for mitigation by reentrant cavities. J. Heat Transfer ASME 1301–1310
Lee P C and Pan C 2008 Boiling heat transfer and two-phase flow of water in a single shallow microchannel with a uniform or diverging cross section. J. Micromechanics and Microengineering 13: 18
Lee P C, Tseng F G and Pan C 2004 Bubble dynamics in microchannels: Part I. Single microchannel. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 47: 5575–5589
Li H Y, Tseng F G and Pan C 2004 Bubble dynamics in microchannels: Part II. Two parallel microchannels. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 47: 5591–5601
Lu C T and Pan C 2009 A highly stable microchannel heat sink for convective boiling. J. Micromechanics and Microengineering 19: 13
Mudawar I 2001 Assessment of high-heat-flux thermal management schemes. IEEE Transactions on Component and Packaging Technologies 24: 122–141
Park J E, Thome J R and Michel B 2009 Effect of inlet orifice on saturated CHF and flow visualization in multi-microchannel heat sinks. 25th IEEE SEMI-THERM Symposium
Qu W and Mudawar I 2003 Measurement and prediction of pressure drop in two-phase micro-channel heat sinks. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 46: 2737–2753
Qu W and Mudawar I 2004 Measurement and correlation of critical heat flux in two-phase micro-channel heat sinks. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 47: 2045–2059
Singh S G, Kulkarni A, Duttagupta S P, Puranik B P and Agrawal A 2008 Impact of aspect ratio on flow boiling of water in rectangular microchannels. Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 33: 153–160
Singh S G, Duttagupta S P and Agrawal A 2009a In-situ impact analysis of very high heat flux transients on non-linear p–n diode characteristics and mitigation using on-chip single-phase and two-phase microfluidics. J. Microelectromechanical Systems 18(6): 1208–1219
Singh S G, Jain A, Sridharan A, Duttagupta S P and Agrawal A 2009b Flow map and measurement of void fraction and heat transfer coefficient using image analysis technique for flow boiling of water in silicon microchannel. J. Micromechanics and Microengineering 19, 075004: 1–9
Singh S G, Bhide R R, Duttagupta S P, Puranik B P and Agrawal A 2009c Two-phase flow pressure drop characteristics in trapezoidal silicon microchannels. IEEE Transactions on Components and Packaging Technologies 32(4): 887–900
Singh S G, Agrawal A and Duttagupta S P 2011 Reliable MOSFET operation using two-phase microfluidics in presence of high heat flux transients. J. Micromechanics and Microengineering 21: 105002
Wang G, Cheng P and Bergles A E 2008 Effects of inlet/outlet configurations on flow boiling instability in parallel microchannels. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 51: 2267–2281
Wu H Y and Cheng 2006 Pressure drop and flow boiling instabilities in silicon microchannel heat sinks. J. Micromechanics and Microengineering 16: 2138–2146
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
DURYODHAN, V.S., SINGH, S.G. & AGRAWAL, A. Boiling flow through diverging microchannel. Sadhana 38, 1067–1082 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12046-013-0188-3
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12046-013-0188-3