Flow Patterns During Flow Boiling Instability in Silicon-Based Pin-Fin Microchannels

Author(s):  
Fayao Xu ◽  
Huiying Wu ◽  
Zhenyu Liu

Flow patterns during boiling instability of deionized water across silicon-based microchannels with inner pin-fin arrays have been studied experimentally. Three types of microchannels with different pin-fin structures and a hydraulic diameter of 210 μm were used. During the unstable flow boiling, two types of instability modes of temperature and pressure oscillations occurred: long-period/large-amplitude oscillation mode and short-period/small-amplitude oscillation mode. There were increasing and decreasing stages of the temperature measurement during a period of long-period/large-amplitude oscillation mode. According to visualization observation, in the increasing stage of temperature oscillation for the in-line pin-fin microchannel, four two-phase flow patterns, including bubbly flow, vapor-slug flow, stratified flow, and stream flow, occurred sequentially with time; for the staggered pin-fin microchannels, the four two-phase flow patterns, together with single liquid-phase flow and single vapor-phase flow occurred sequentially with time. The flow pattern transitions were inverse between the increasing and decreasing stages of temperature measurement. Under the short-period/small-amplitude oscillation mode, only the stream flow occurred. With the increase of heat flux, the stream flow and the single vapor-phase flow occupied more and more time ratio during an oscillation period in the in-line and staggered pin-fin microchannels, respectively.

2017 ◽  
Vol 140 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fayao Xu ◽  
Huiying Wu ◽  
Zhenyu Liu

In this paper, the flow patterns during water flow boiling instability in pin-fin microchannels were experimentally studied. Three types of pin-fin arrays (in-line/circular pin-fins, staggered/circular pin-fins, and staggered/square pin-fins) were used in the study. The flow instability started to occur as the outlet water reached the saturation temperature. Before the unstable boiling, a wider range of stable boiling existed in the pin-fin microchannels compared to that in the plain microchannels. Two flow instability modes for the temperature and pressure oscillations, which were long-period/large-amplitude mode and short-period/small-amplitude mode, were identified. The temperature variation during the oscillation period of the long-period/large-amplitude mode can be divided into two stages: increasing stage and decreasing stage. In the increasing stage, bubbly flow, vapor-slug flow, stratified flow, and wispy flow occurred sequentially with time for the in-line pin-fin microchannels; liquid single-phase flow, aforementioned four kinds of two-phase flow patterns, and vapor single-phase flow occurred sequentially with time for the staggered pin-fin microchannel. The flow pattern transitions in the decreasing stage were the inverse of those in the increasing stage for both in-line and staggered pin-fin microchannels. For the short-period/small-amplitude oscillation mode, only the wispy flow occurred. With the increase of heat flux, the wispy flow and the vapor single-phase flow occupied more and more time ratio during an oscillation period in the in-line and staggered pin-fin microchannels.


Author(s):  
Jacqueline Barber ◽  
Khellil Sefiane ◽  
David Brutin ◽  
Lounes Tadrist

Boiling in microchannels remains elusive due to the lack of full understanding of the mechanisms involved. A powerful tool in achieving better comprehension of the mechanisms is detailed imaging and analysis of the two phase flow at a fundamental level. We induced boiling in a single microchannel geometry (hydraulic diameter 727 μm), using a refrigerant FC-72, to investigate several flow patterns. A transparent, metallic, conductive deposit has been developed on the exterior of rectangular microchannels, allowing simultaneous uniform heating and visualisation to be conducted. The data presented in this paper is for a particular case with a uniform heat flux of 4.26 kW/m2 applied to the microchannel and inlet liquid mass flowrate, held constant at 1.33×10−5 kg/s. In conjunction with obtaining high-speed images and videos, sensitive pressure sensors are used to record the pressure drop profiles across the microchannel over time. Bubble nucleation, growth and coalescence, as well as periodic slug flow, are observed in the test section. Phenomena are noted, such as the aspect ratio and Reynolds number of a vapour bubble, which are in turn correlated to the associated pressure drops over time. From analysis of our results, images and video sequences with the corresponding physical data obtained, it is possible to follow visually the nucleation and subsequent both ‘free’ and ‘confined’ growth of a vapour bubble over time.


Author(s):  
Yun Whan Na ◽  
J. N. Chung

Forced convective flow boiling in a single microchannel with different channel heights was studied through a numerical simulation method to investigate bubble dynamics, two-phase flow patterns, and boiling heat transfer. The momentum and energy equations were solved using a finite volume (FV) numerical method, while the liquid–vapor interface of a bubble is captured using the volume of fluid (VOF) technique. The effects of different constant wall heat fluxes and different channel heights on the boiling mechanisms were investigated. The effects of liquid velocity on the bubble departure diameter were also analyzed. The predicted bubble shapes and distribution profiles together with two-phase flow patterns are also provided.


Author(s):  
Claudi Marti´n-Callizo ◽  
Bjo¨rn Palm ◽  
Wahib Owhaib ◽  
Rashid Ali

The present work reports on flow boiling visualization of refrigerant R-134a in a vertical circular channel with internal diameter of 1.33 mm and 235 mm in heated length. Quartz tube with a homogeneous ITO-coating is used allowing heating and simultaneous visualization. Flow patterns have been observed along the heated length with the aid of a digital camera with close-up lenses. From the flow boiling visualization, seven distinct two-phase flow patterns have been observed: Isolated bubbly flow, confined bubbly flow, slug flow, churn flow, slug-annular flow, annular flow, and mist flow. Two-phase flow pattern observations are presented in the form of flow pattern maps. Finally, the experimental flow pattern map is compared to models developed for conventional sizes as well as to a microscale map for air-water mixtures available in the literature, showing a large discrepancy.


2004 ◽  
Vol 126 (3) ◽  
pp. 288-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weilin Qu ◽  
Seok-Mann Yoon ◽  
Issam Mudawar

Knowledge of flow pattern and flow pattern transitions is essential to the development of reliable predictive tools for pressure drop and heat transfer in two-phase micro-channel heat sinks. In the present study, experiments were conducted with adiabatic nitrogen-water two-phase flow in a rectangular micro-channel having a 0.406×2.032mm2 cross-section. Superficial velocities of nitrogen and water ranged from 0.08 to 81.92 m/s and 0.04 to 10.24 m/s, respectively. Flow patterns were first identified using high-speed video imaging, and still photos were then taken for representative patterns. Results reveal the dominant flow patterns are slug and annular, with bubbly flow occurring only occasionally; stratified and churn flow were never observed. A flow pattern map was constructed and compared with previous maps and predictions of flow pattern transition models. Features unique to two-phase micro-channel flow were identified and employed to validate key assumptions of an annular flow boiling model that was previously developed to predict pressure drop and heat transfer in two-phase micro-channel heat sinks. This earlier model was modified based on new findings from the adiabatic two-phase flow study. The modified model shows good agreement with experimental data for water-cooled heat sinks.


Author(s):  
X. H. Yan ◽  
J. Z. Xu ◽  
D. W. Tang

This work presents experiments on the visualization of flow boiling of water in a horizontally placed and uniformly heated micro capillary tube. Three micro capillary tubes of quartz glass with inner diameters of 520, 315 and 242 μm are prepared. Experiments are performed with deionized water over a mass flux range from 39.3 to 362.5kg/m2s, and the inlet temperatures of 30, 45, and 60 °C respectively. By a video system with microscope and high-speed camera, the vapor-water two-phase flow’s patterns are recorded and analyzed. It has been found that periodic change of two-phase flow patterns and dramatic fluctuations of pressure drop occur in the micro capillary tubes. A new arch flow pattern, liquid film evaporating, and liquid droplet have been observed firstly. Bubbly flow has not been observed during our visual experiments for the inner diameter of 242 μm, the flow patterns are only made up of single liquid phase flow and two-phase elongate slug flow. The main flow regimes in these micro-tubes are single-liquid flow, slug flow, and annular flow with liquid film surrounded in the micro-tube with inner diameter of 520 and 315μm. Trends of pressure drop and flow patterns’ transition are compared and the results show that the increasing process of pressure drop is approximately in the single-liquid flow and bubbly flow, while the decreasing process of pressure drop is in the state of annular flow.


2010 ◽  
Vol 132 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudi Martín-Callizo ◽  
Björn Palm ◽  
Wahib Owhaib ◽  
Rashid Ali

The present work reports on flow boiling visualization of refrigerant R-134a in a vertical circular channel with an internal diameter of 1.33 mm and 235 mm in heated length. A quartz tube with a homogeneous Indium Tin Oxide coating is used to allow heating and simultaneous visualization. Flow patterns have been observed along the heated length with the aid of high-speed complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) digital camera. From the flow boiling visualization, seven distinct two-phase flow patterns have been observed: isolated bubbly flow, confined bubbly flow, slug flow, churn flow, slug-annular flow, annular flow, and mist flow. Two-phase flow pattern observations are presented in the form of flow pattern maps. The effects of the saturation temperature and the inlet subcooling degree on the two-phase flow pattern transitions are elucidated. Finally, the experimental flow pattern map is compared with models developed for conventional sizes as well as to a microscale map for air-water mixtures available in literature, showing a large discrepancy.


Author(s):  
Jun-Feng Wang ◽  
Yan-Ping Huang ◽  
Yan-Lin Wang

Visualized experimental observation on flow patterns during flow boiling of water under single-side heated and fluid-inlet subcooled conditions in a vertical narrow rectangular channel with the cross-section of 40×3mm2 have been carried out. Four discernible flow patterns which names dispersed bubbly, coalesced bubbly, churn flow and annular flow are obtained. Flow visualization in two dimensions of two-phase flow patterns for narrow rectangular channel, which provided clearer evidence to distinguish flow patterns, have been performed. Based on the experimental results, a flow pattern map for single-side heated narrow rectangular channel has been developed and then compared with the exiting maps and flow transition criteria.


Author(s):  
Daniel Sempe´rtegui ◽  
Gherhardt Ribastki

In the present work, an objective method to characterize two-phase flow pattern was developed and implemented. The method is based on the characteristics of the signals provided by transducers measuring local temperature and pressure plus the intensity of a laser beam crossing the two-phase flow. The statistical characteristics of these signals were used as input features for the k-means clustering method. In order to implement the method, experimental flow patterns were obtained during flow boiling of R245fa in a 2.32 mm ID tube. Experiments were performed for mass velocities from 100 to 700kg/m2s, saturation temperature of 31 °C and vapor qualities up to 0.99. The cluster classification was compared against flow patterns segregated based on high speed camera images (8000 images/s) and a reasonable agreement was obtained.


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