Heat Transfer due to Microscale Thin Film Evaporation From the Steady State Meniscus in a Coherent Porous Silicon Based Micro-Columnated Wicking Structure
A numerical fluid flow and heat transfer model is presented in order to study the evaporation characteristics of a stationary thin film liquid-vapor meniscus. The model is used to evaluate the evaporative heat transfer performance of micron-size rectangular channels on the surface of the secondary wick, inside a micro-columnated coherent porous silicon wick design. The shape of the liquid-vapor meniscus in the channel is obtained by solving the Young-Laplace equation, using a surface energy minimizing algorithm. Mass, momentum and energy equations are then solved in the liquid domain using a discrete finite volume method-based approach. The vapor is assumed to be fully saturated and evaporation at the liquid-vapor interface is modeled using kinetic theory. The effect of wall superheat and inlet-liquid subcooling on the rate of evaporation and associated heat transfer from the evaporating meniscus is characterized.