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Experimental investigation on critical heat flux measurement in parallel microchannel heat sink at low mass fluxes

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Abstract

Flow boiling experiments in microchannels under low mass fluxes have rarely been reported in the literature. In this study, flow boiling critical heat flux (CHF) for a parallel straight copper microchannel heat sink with 41 channels and hydraulic diameter of 420 µm (width: 300 µm; height: 700 µm) is reported under low mass fluxes(< 100 kg/m2s). The flow patterns reveal that the inertial force will be too low to flush the bubble downstream. The heat transfer coefficient was observed to decrease with an increase in the heat flux or vapor quality, which pointed toward convective boiling dominancy inside the channels. When approaching the CHF, the vapor flowed back to the heat sink’s inlet plenum, resulting in a flow blockage, which is the main factor for the CHF occurrence.

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Abbreviations

Re fin :

Reynolds number in a fin channel

Bo:

Bond number

ṁ :

Mass flow rate [kg/s]

D h :

Hydraulic diameter [m]

A t :

Total area of parallel channels [m2]

H ch :

Height of microchannels [m]

W ch :

Width of microchannels [m]

μ :

Dynamic viscosity of the coolant [Pa.s]

μ f :

Dynamic viscosity of the bulk fluid [Pa.s]

μ w :

Dynamic viscosity of fluid at wall temperature [Pa.s]

Q loss :

Heat loss [%]

Q ch :

Heat received by the coolant [W]

Q heater :

Heat provided by thin film heater [W]

Q actual :

Actual heat provided [W]

C p :

Specific heat of coolant [kJ/kgK]

T in :

Coolant inlet temperature [°C]

T out :

Coolant outlet temperature [°C]

T surf :

Temperature of heat sink surface [°C]

ρv :

Density of vapor [kg/m3]

ρl :

Density of liquid [kg/m3]

P A :

Actual power of thin film heater [W]

P R :

Rated power of thin film heater [W]

V A :

Actual voltage supplied [V]

V R :

Rated voltage of thin film heater [V]

h tp :

Heat transfer coefficient [W/m2K]

L :

Length of microchannel heat sink [m]

Nu:

Nusselt number

Q″ :

Heat flux [W/m2]

We:

Weber number

X :

Vapor quality

AE:

Absolute error

CHF:

Critical heat flux

MLI:

Multilayer insulation

MAE:

Mean absolute error

ONB:

Onset of nucleate boiling

PTFE:

Polytetrafluoroethylene

RSS:

Root-sum-square

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (NRF-2018R1A2B6006160). This work was supported by the Brain Pool Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science and I CT (Grant No. 2019H1D3A1A01102855). This work was supported by Global Scholarship Program for Foreign Graduate Students at Kookmin University in Korea.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Kookmin University, Seoul, 02707, Korea

    Ajith Krishnan R, Zhong Han Chai & Hee Joon Lee

  2. Department of Severe Accident and Risk Assessment, Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, Daejeon, 34142, Korea

    Hanbee Na

Authors
  1. Ajith Krishnan R
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  2. Zhong Han Chai
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hee Joon Lee.

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Ajith Krishnan R is a Research Associate in Mechanical Engineering at Kookmin University, Seoul, Republic of Korea. He completed his Ph.D. from National Institute of Technology, Trichy and obtained his thesis in the area of flow boiling heat transfer in micro/mini channels. His research interests include flow boiling in microchannels, pool boiling, surface modification, wettability effects on boiling, electronics cooling, thermal management techniques and hydrogen storage.

Zhong Han Chai completed his first degree at University of Technology, Malaysia. He completed his Master’s under Prof. Lee in Kookmin University, Seoul, South Korea. His research focus is on two-phase flow and critical heat flux in compact channels.

Hanbee Na is a Principal Researcher at Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety. He graduated from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. His research interests include ex-vessel boiling cooling of debris bed and combustion safety analysis of nuclear power plants.

Hee Joon Lee is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Kookmin University, Seoul, Republic of Korea. He graduated from Carnegie Mellon University, PA, USA in 2008. Then, he joined Prof. Michael K. Jensen’s research group in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY, USA as a research associate. He has been in Kookmin University since 2011. His research interests are boiling and condensation heat transfer, microchannel two-phase flow physics, efficient chemical reactor and heat exchanger design and energy plant.

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Krishnan R, A., Chai, Z.H., Na, H. et al. Experimental investigation on critical heat flux measurement in parallel microchannel heat sink at low mass fluxes. J Mech Sci Technol 35, 3211–3221 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-021-0641-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-021-0641-x

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