Modeling and Numerical Simulations of Vapor-Liquid Flow and Heat Transfer Within Microchannel Heat Sinks

Author(s):  
Chengyun Xin ◽  
Jianhua Wang ◽  
Jianheng Xie ◽  
Yuee Song

Microchannel heat sinks have demonstrated the ability to dissipate large amounts of heat flux. This ability can be strongly enhanced by phase change of a liquid coolant. This paper numerically simulates the processes of liquid coolant flow, heat absorption and phase change within a microchannel, which is heated at one side by given heat fluxes. The two-phase flow model widely used in the investigations on heat and mass transfer within porous media is firstly introduced into microchannnel heat sinks by this paper. Experiential equations of the heat transfer coefficients in single phase and boiling region within microchannels are employed to calculate the convective heat exchange between solid wall and flowing fluid by an iterative process. The numerical results of pressure and temperature distributions obtained at different conditions are exhibited and analyzed. The results indicated that the trends predicted by this approach agree well with the previous references. Therefore the modeling is validated in some sense. At the same time, two phenomena, countercurrent flow in two-phase region and special pressure variations near the transition point, are exhibited.

Author(s):  
Himanshu Pokharna ◽  
Kuroda Masahiro ◽  
Eric DiStefano ◽  
Rajiv Mongia ◽  
Jim Barry ◽  
...  

Remote cooling is the established cooling scheme in notebook computers, and increasingly, other computing sectors like desktops and servers are evaluating this approach as an option for cooling future platforms. While remote cooling facilitates a larger heat exchanger than the space directly over the processor would allow, it introduces an additional thermal resistance, in particular, θp-f (plate to fluid resistance) — the resistance in getting the heat from the cold plate to the fluid. For any remote cooling system, this resistance needs to be carefully evaluated and minimized. Pumped fluid loops incorporating microchannel heat exchangers are a viable option to achieve low plate-to-fluid resistances. In this paper we will identify a reasonable target for θp-f and subsequently describe two similar but fundamentally different thermal systems to accomplish this target performance: single-phase and two-phase pumped loops. Although two phase flows are traditionally thought of as the way to accomplish the highest heat transfer coefficients and thus the lowest resistances, with microchannel heat sinks the contrast is not so acute. We will present results from our experimental work on single- and two-phase heat transfer from microchannel heat sinks and demonstrate a transition where single-phase performance matches that of two-phase operation. This will be followed by the analysis methods used to predict the heat transfer and the pressure drop data. Moreover, we will discuss system level issues and other hurdles that need to be overcome in commercialization of microchannel technology for cooling computer systems.


2005 ◽  
Vol 127 (10) ◽  
pp. 1106-1114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Koşar ◽  
Chih-Jung Kuo ◽  
Yoav Peles

Boiling flow of deionized water through 227μm hydraulic diameter microchannels with 7.5μm wide interconnected reentrant cavities at 47 kPa exit pressure has been investigated. Average two-phase heat transfer coefficients have been obtained over effective heat fluxes ranging from 28 to 445W∕cm2 and mass fluxes from 41 to 302kg∕m2s. A map is developed that divides the data into two regions where the heat transfer mechanisms are nucleation or convective boiling dominant. The map is compared to similar atmospheric exit pressure data developed in a previous study. A boiling mechanism transition criterion based on the Reynolds number and the Kandlikar k1 number is proposed.


Author(s):  
Andreas Jeromin ◽  
Christian Eichler ◽  
Berthold Noll ◽  
Manfred Aigner

Numerical predictions of conjugate heat transfer on an effusion cooled flat plate were performed and compared to detailed experimental data. The commercial package CFX® is used as flow solver. The effusion holes in the referenced experiment had an inclination angle of 17 degrees and were distributed in a staggered array of 7 rows. The geometry and boundary conditions in the experiments were derived from modern gas turbine combustors. The computational domain contains a plenum chamber for coolant supply, a solid wall and the main flow duct. Conjugate heat transfer conditions are applied in order to couple the heat fluxes between the fluid region and the solid wall. The fluid domain contains 2.4 million nodes, the solid domain 300,000 nodes. Turbulence modeling is provided by the SST turbulence model which allows the resolution of the laminar sublayer without wall functions. The numerical predictions of velocity and temperature distributions at certain locations show significant differences to the experimental data in velocity and temperature profiles. It is assumed that this behavior is due to inappropriate modeling of turbulence especially in the effusion hole. Nonetheless, the numerically predicted heat transfer coefficients are in good agreement with the experimental data at low blowing ratios.


Author(s):  
B. R. Alexander ◽  
E. N. Wang

Two-phase microchannels promise an efficient method to dissipate heat from high performance electronic systems by utilizing the latent heat of vaporization during the phase-change process. However, phase-change in microchannel heat sinks leads to challenges that are not present in macroscale systems due to the increasing importance of surface tension and viscous forces. In particular, flow instabilities often occur during the boiling process, which lead to liquid dry-out in the microchannels and severely limits the heat removal capabilities of the system. We propose a microscale breather device consisting of an array of hydrophobic breather ports which allow vapor bubbles to escape from the microchannels to improve flow stability. In this study, we use the combination of microfabricated structures and surface chemistry to separate vapor from the liquid flow. We designed test devices that allow for cross-sectional optical visualization to better understand the governing parameters of a breather design with high vapor removal efficiencies and minimal liquid leakage. We examined breather devices with average liquid velocities ranging from 0.5 cm/s to 4 cm/s and breather vacuum levels between 1 kPa and 9 kPa on the maximum gas removal rate through the breather. We demonstrated successful breather performance. In addition, a model was developed that offers design guidelines for future integrated breathers in microchannel heat sinks. The breathers also have significant promise for other microscale systems, such as micro-fuel cells, where liquid-vapor separation can significantly enhance system performance.


Author(s):  
Jessica Sheehan ◽  
Avram Bar-Cohen

Heat transfer to an evaporating refrigerant and/or dielectric liquid in a microgap channel can provide very high heat transfer coefficients and volumetric cooling rates. Recent studies at Maryland have established the dominance of the annular flow regime in such microgap channels and related the observed high-quality peak of an M-shaped heat transfer coefficient curve to the onset of local dryout. The present study utilizes infrared thermography to locate such nascent dryout regions and operating conditions. Data obtained with a 210 micron microgap channel, operated with a mass flux of 195.2 kg/m2-s and heat fluxes of 10.3 to 26 W/cm2 are presented and discussed.


Author(s):  
Gilberto Moreno ◽  
Sreekant Narumanchi ◽  
Charles King

This fundamental study characterizes the pool boiling performance of a new refrigerant, HFO-1234yf (hydrofluoroolefin 2,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene). The similarities in thermophysical properties with HFC-134a and low global warming potential make HFO-1234yf the prospective next generation refrigerant in automotive air-conditioning systems. This study examines the possibility of using this refrigerant for two-phase cooling of hybrid and electric vehicle power electronic components. Pool boiling experiments were conducted with HFO-1234yf and HFC-134a at system pressures ranging from 0.7 to 1.7 MPa using horizontally oriented 1 cm2 heat sources. Results show that the boiling heat transfer coefficients of HFO-1234yf and HFC-134a are nearly identical at lower heat fluxes. HFO-1234yf yielded lower heat transfer coefficients at higher heat fluxes and lower critical heat flux (CHF) as compared with HFC-134a. To enhance boiling heat transfer, a copper microporous coating was applied to the test surfaces. The coating provided enhancement to both the boiling heat transfer coefficients and CHF, for both refrigerants, at all tested pressures. Increasing pressure decreases the level of heat transfer coefficient enhancements while increasing the level of CHF enhancements.


Author(s):  
Amy Rachel Betz ◽  
Daniel Attinger

Liquid cooling is an efficient way to remove heat fluxes with magnitude of 1 to 10,000 W/cm2. One limitation of current single-phase microchannel heat sinks is the relatively low Nusselt number, because of laminar flow. In this work, we experimentally investigate how to enhance the Nusselt number in the laminar regime with the periodic injection of non-condensable bubbles in a water-filled array of microchannels in a segmented flow pattern. We designed a polycarbonate heat sink consisting of an array of parallel microchannels with a low ratio of heat to convective resistance, to facilitate the measurement of the Nusselt Number. Our heat transfer and pressure drop measurements are in good agreement with existing correlations, and show that the Nusselt number of a segmented flow is increased by more than a hundred percent over single-phase flow provided the mass velocity is within a given range.


Author(s):  
Ahmed Eltaweel ◽  
Abdulla Baobeid ◽  
Ibrahim Hassan

Non-uniform heat fluxes are commonly observed in thermo-electronic devices that require distinct thermal management strategies for effective heat dissipation and robust performance. The limited research available on non-uniform heat fluxes focus mostly on microchannel heat sinks while the fundamental component, i.e. a single microchannel, has received restricted attention. In this work, an experimental setup for the analysis of variable axial heat flux is used to study the heat transfer in a single microchannel with fully developed flow under the effect of different heat flux profiles. Initially a hot spot at different locations, with a uniform background heat flux, is studied at different Reynolds numbers while varying the maximum heat fluxes in order to compute the heat transfer in relation to its dependent variables. Measurements of temperature, pressure, and flow rates at a different locations and magnitudes of hot spot heat fluxes are presented, followed by a detailed analysis of heat transfer characteristics of a single microchannel under non-uniform heating. Results showed that upstream hotspots have lower tube temperatures compared to downstream ones with equal amounts of heat fluxes. This finding can be of importance in enhancing microchannel heat sinks effectiveness in reducing maximum wall temperatures for the same amount of heat released, by redistributing spatially fluxes in a descending profile.


1999 ◽  
Vol 121 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Zu¨rcher ◽  
J. R. Thome ◽  
D. Favrat

Experimental test results for flow boiling of pure ammonia inside horizontal tubes were obtained for a plain stainless steel tube. Tests were run at a nominal saturation temperature of 4°C, nine mass velocities from 20–140 kg/m2 s, vapor qualities from 1–99 percent and heat fluxes from 5–58 kW/m2. Two-phase flow observations showed that the current test data covered the following regimes: fully stratified, stratified-wavy, intermittent, annular, and annular with partial dryout. The Kattan-Thome-Favrat flow boiling model accurately predicted the local heat transfer coefficients measured in all these flow regimes with only two small modifications to their flow map (to extend its application to G < 100 kg/m2 s). Their flow boiling model was also successfully compared to the earlier ammonia flow boiling data of Chaddock and Buzzard (1986). The Gungor-Winterton (1987) correlation instead gave very poor accuracy for ammonia.


Author(s):  
Tannaz Harirchian ◽  
Suresh V. Garimella

Two-phase heat transfer in microchannels can support very high heat fluxes for use in high-performance electronics-cooling applications. However, the effects of microchannel cross-sectional dimensions on the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop have not been investigated extensively. In the present work, experiments are conducted to investigate the local flow boiling heat transfer in microchannel heat sinks. The effect of channel size on the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop is studied for mass fluxes ranging from 250 to 1600 kg/m2s. The test sections consist of parallel microchannels with nominal widths of 100, 250, 400, 700, and 1000 μm, all with a depth of 400 μm, cut into 12.7 mm × 12.7 mm silicon substrates. Twenty-five microheaters embedded in the substrate allow local control of the imposed heat flux, while twenty-five temperature microsensors integrated into the back of the substrates enable local measurements of temperature. The dielectric fluid Fluorinert FC-77 is used as the working fluid. The results of this study serve to quantify the effectiveness of microchannel heat transport while simultaneously assessing the pressure drop trade-offs.


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