FLOW BOILING THROUGH V-SHAPE MICROCHANNELS.

An experimental facility was set up to study the flow and boiling heat transfer characteristics of water and methanol flowing through V-shape microchannels. The microchannels have hydraulic diameters ranging from 0.2 to 0.6 mm and V-shape groove angles 0 of 30 to 60°. Both the heat transfer and the pressure drop were affected by the thermofluid and geometric parameters such as liquid flow velocity, subcooling, and the hydraulic diameter and groove angle of the microchannels. The experiments indicted that there exists both an optimum hydraulic diameter and an optimum groove angle. The visualization experiments showed that, if there was a good seal between the glass cover and the microchanneled test plate, no bubbles were observed in the microchannels for flow boiling with heat fluxes as high as of the order of 106 W/m2, at which fully nucleate boiling with a large number of bubbles would be expected in conventional situations. Fluctuating liquid flow was induced in the microchannels when many bubbles formed in the inlet plenum. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]