Numerical Investigation on Cavitation Suppression of Microchannel over a NACA0012 Hydrofoil

To find a better method to suppress cavitation, a microchannel design connecting the internal low-pressure area with the outside is proposed for the first time in this paper; the method was adopted to replenish fluid in the interior of the low-pressure area to inhibit cavitation. Through numerical simulation, it is found that the size and position of microchannel have a certain influence on the cavitation inhibition. The results show that the generation and development of cavitation, under the same working conditions, can be effectively restrained by adopting appropriate microchannel (x = 0.05 c, d = 6 cm). Compared with the original hydrofoil, the scale of cavitation is reduced by nearly 50%, and its turbulent kinetic energy remains unchanged. Therefore, it is considered that microchannel technology, as a new means of cavitation suppression, is of great significance to other types of fluid machinery.

A controllable oil-triggered actuator with aligned microchannel design for implementing precise deformation

Precise deformation could be realized in an oil-triggered actuator by designing aligned microchannel structures.

Performance Characterization of an Additively Manufactured Titanium (Ti64) Heat Exchanger for an Air-Water Cooling Application

Over the last decade, rapid development of additive manufacturing techniques has allowed the fabrication of innovative designs which could not have been manufactured using conventional fabrication technologies. One field that can benefit from such technology is heat exchanger fabrication, as heat exchanger design has become more and more complex due to the demand for higher performance systems. One specific heat exchanger design that has shown significant performance enhancement potential over conventional designs and can greatly benefit from additive manufacturing technology is a manifold-microchannel heat exchanger. It is a design that combines careful fluid distribution through appropriate manifolds with an enhanced heat transfer surface design to achieve specific thermohydraulics performance expectations. Additive manufacturing allows fins as thin as 150 μm to be fabricated, which is an important enabler feature for the heat exchanger thermal performance. In addition, additive manufacturing allows the manifold and the microchannel sections to be fabricated as a single piece, which eliminates the need to fuse those sections together through a subsequent bonding process. As part of this work, we fabricated and experimentally tested a high-performance titanium alloy (Ti64) air-water heat exchanger that utilizes manifold-microchannel design. The heat exchanger was fabricated using direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) fabrication technique. The air-side implemented a manifold-microchannel design, while the water side used multiple rectangular channels in parallel. This was because the major thermal resistance occurs on the air side. The pressure drop and heat transfer performance of this heat exchanger were evaluated. The experimental results showed a noticeable performance reduction compared to the ones projected by numerical simulation due to an inaccuracy and low fidelity in printing of thin fin profile. However, despite this manufacturing inaccuracy, compared to a conventional wavy-fin surface, 15%–50% increase in heat transfer coefficient was possible for the same pressure drop value. Compared to a plain plate-fin surface, 95%–110% increase in heat transfer coefficient was possible for the same pressure drop value. The air-side heat transfer coefficient in the range of 100–450 W/m2K was achievable using manifold-microchannel technology for air-side pressure drop of 90–1800Pa. Since metal based additive manufacturing is still in the developmental stage, it is anticipated that with further refinement of the manufacturing process in future designs, the fabrication accuracy can be improved.

Design, Simulation and Fabrication of Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) Microchannel for Lab-on-Chip (LoC) Applications

Microchannel of micron-to milimeter in dimension has been immensely used for fluid handling in transporting, mixing and separating biological cells in Lab-on-Chip (LoC) applications. In this paper, design, simulation and fabrication of Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic channel are presented. The microchannel is designed with one inlet and outlet. A reservoir or chamber is proposed as an extra component in the microchannel design for ease of separating the intended biological cells as used in LoC magnetic separator and micro-incubator. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) shows laminar flow characteristic is maintained in the proposed microchannel design operating at volumetric flow rate between 0.5 to 1000 μL/min. In addition, pressure drop data across the microchannel are also been obtained from the FEA in determining the safe operation limit of the microchannel. The PDMS microchannels of two different chamber geometries have been successfully fabricated using replica molding technique from SU-8 negative photoresist mold. The fabricated SU-8 mold and the PDMS microchannel structure dimension are characterized using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Reversible bonding of PDMS microchannel layer and PDMS tubing layer has successfully accomplished by activating the PDMS surfaces using corona discharge. The preliminary testing of the microchannel confirmed its function for LoC continuous flow applications.

Gradient-free directional cell migration in continuous microchannels

The continuous zig-zag microchannel design enables sustained autonomous directional cell migration without chemical or mechanical gradient.