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Experimental Investigation of Flow Boiling in Parallel Mini-channels

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Abstract

Flow boiling in micro-channels and mini-channels has received significant attention due to its capability for dissipating highflux heat, especially in the thermal management of high precision electronics. A heat sink with narrow rectangular mini-channels is designed to investigate flow boiling in the mini-channels, including the effect of gravity. It contains 14 parallel channels with a cross section, of 1×4mm 2, of which the hydraulic diameter is 1.6mm. The cooling capability, the temperature uniformity, and the temperature stability of the flow boiling in minichannels are investigated with R22, with total mass flow flux ranges from 35 to 70kg/m 2s. The results show that the cooling capability of the heat- sink is up to 340W(∼ 3.0W/cm 2), and the temperature difference is below 4 C(even down to 2 C) on the heat sink. The temperature uniformity isn’t quite sensitive to heat flux. The instability has not been observed in the present researches.

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Abbreviations

\( Bo (=\frac {(\rho _{l}-\rho _{v})g{d_{i}^{2}}}{\sigma }) \) :

Bond number

\(We (=\frac {\rho _{m}{u_{m}^{2}}d_{i}}{\sigma }=\frac {G^{2}d_{i}}{\rho _{m}\sigma })\) :

Weber number

\(Fr (=\sqrt {\frac {We}{Bo}})\) :

Froude number

d i :

hydraulic diameter[m]

f:

friction factor

G:

the mean mass flow flux of single mini-channel [kg/m2s]

g:

gravitational acceleration[m/s2]

h:

local heat transfer coefficient [W/m2K]; enthalpy [J/kg]

k:

thermal conductivity [W/mK]

u:

velocity[m/s]

T:

temperature[°C]

T̄:

mean temperature of the test point on the evaporator[°C]

Q:

power[W]

q:

heat flux[W/m2]

P:

pressure [Pa]

\( R (=\frac {\Delta T}{Q}=\frac {\bar {T}-T_{sat}}{Q}) \) :

thermal resistance[°C/W] Greek symbols

ρ :

density[kg/m3]

σ :

surface tension

Subscripts:

m:

mixture properties of two-phase fluid

l:

liquid phase

v :

vapor phase

sat:

saturation

PUMP_IN:

the inlet of micro pump

PUMP_OUT:

the outlet of micro pump

PRE_HEAT:

the outlet of pre-heater

COND_IN:

the inlet of condenser

COND_OUT:

the outlet of condenser

ACC_BOT:

the bottom of accumulator

ACC_MID:

the middle of accumulator

ACC_OUT:

the outlet of accumulator

EVA_IN:

the inlet of evaporator

EVA_OUT:

the outlet of evaporator

EVA_1_EVA_5:

different test point on the evaporator

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Science Foundation for Young Scientists of China (Grant No.51006126).

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Correspondence to Z.-C. Huang.

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Wu, W., Zhang, M.T., Zhang, X.B. et al. Experimental Investigation of Flow Boiling in Parallel Mini-channels. Microgravity Sci. Technol. 27, 273–279 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12217-015-9450-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12217-015-9450-0

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