Thermo-hydrodynamic investigation into the effects of minichannel configuration on the thermal performance of subcooled flow boiling

Abstract

The current research focuses on the development of a numerical approach to forecast strongly subcooled flow boiling of FC-72 as the refrigerant in various vertical minichannel shapes for high-heat-flux cooling applications. The simulations are carried out using the Volume of Fluid method with the Lee phase change model, which revealed some inherent flaws in multiphase flows that are primarily due to an insufficient interpretation of shear-lift force on bubbles and conjugate heat transfer against the walls. A user-defined function (UDF) is used to provide specific information about this noticeable effect. The influence of shape and the inlet mass fluxes on the flow patterns, heat transfer, and pressure drop characteristics are discussed. The computational results are validated with experimental measurements, where excellent agreements are found that prove the efficiency of the present numerical model. The findings demonstrate that the heat transfer coefficient decreases as the mass flux increases and that the constriction design improves the thermal performance by 24.68% and 10.45% compared to the straight and expansion shapes, respectively. The periodic constriction sections ensure good mixing between the core and near-wall layers. In addition, a slight pressure drop penalty versus the thermal transfer benefits for the two configurations proposed is reported.

Keywords

• Subcooled flow boiling
• Minichannel
• Heat transfer enhancement
• Shape ratio
• CFD