Saturated critical heat flux in a multi-microchannel heat sink fed by a split flow system
- Department of Energetics, Applied Thermofluidynamics and Air Conditioning Systems, FEDERICO II University, p.le Tecchio 80, 80125 Napoli (Italy)
- Laboratory of Heat and Mass Transfer (LTCM), Faculty of Engineering (STI), Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Station 9, Lausanne CH-1015 (Switzerland)
- Engineering Department, Sannio University, Corso Garibaldi 107, Palazzo dell'Aquila Bosco Lucarelli, 82100 Benevento (Italy)
An extensive experimental campaign has been carried out for the measurement of saturated critical heat flux in a multi-microchannel copper heat sink. The heat sink was formed by 29 parallel channels that were 199 {mu}m wide and 756 {mu}m deep. In order to increase the critical heat flux and reduce the two-phase pressure drop, a split flow system was implemented with one central inlet at the middle of the channels and two outlets at either end. The base critical heat flux was measured using three HFC Refrigerants (R134a, R236fa and R245fa) for mass fluxes ranging from 250 to 1500 kg/m{sup 2} s, inlet subcoolings from -25 to -5 K and saturation temperatures from 20 to 50 C. The parametric effects of mass velocity, saturation temperature and inlet subcooling were investigated. The analysis showed that significantly higher CHF was obtainable with the split flow system (one inlet-two outlets) compared to the single inlet-single outlet system, providing also a much lower pressure drop. Notably several existing predictive methods matched the experimental data quite well and quantitatively predicted the benefit of higher CHF of the split flow. (author)
- OSTI ID:
- 21248835
- Journal Information:
- Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science, Vol. 34, Issue 1; Other Information: Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved; ISSN 0894-1777
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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