Abstract
Recent leaps in heat dissipation make it difficult for typical heat exchangers to meet the requirements of the advanced applications even with the maximally obtainable heat transfer performance associated with a single-phase process. Especially high heat flux applications such as thermal management in microelectronics, advanced material processing, and nuclear fusion reactors require extreme heat transfer methods to overcome the current limits.
In this study, a heat exchanger adopting simultaneously two-opposite, phase-change heat transfer processes (internal flow boiling and external condensation) was proposed and analytically investigated. The phase-change heat transfer analyses were conducted for internal flow boiling and external condensation at a test section and the heat transfer performances were compared with that of a system with an internal single-phase, liquid flow process. It is found that the proposed heat exchanger configuration with an internal flow boiling can substantially enhance the heat transfer performances and provide better methods to manage the temperature difference comparing to those with an internal single-phase heat transfer due to its significant increase in a heat transfer coefficients and constant temperatures during phase-change processes.
Additionally, this study also explains the design for a test rig to evaluate and validate the results in detail. The test rig consists of an internal flow boiling loop with a test section, an external condensation loop, sensors, auxiliary monitoring parts, and controlling and data acquisition systems. Thermodynamic cycle, pressure drop, and heat transfer analyses were conducted to determine the conditions and the specifications of components and sensors for the test rig.