Gas-Liquid Two-Phase Flow and Heat Transfer without Phase Change in Microfluidic Heat Exchanger

This work presents an experimental study of the possibility of intensifying in microfluidic heat exchangers (MFHE) by creating a two-phase segmented flow (gas-liquid). Measurements of convective heat transfer were carried out using an MFHE, consisting of six channels 1 x 1 mm. Experimental studies have shown that segmented flow makes it possible to increase the Nusselt number of a laminar flow in MFHE up to 1.67 and reduce thermal resistance up to 1.7 times compared to single-phase flow. At the same time, it was found that the intensification of heat exchange by a two-phase flow is observed only for the range of the volume fraction of gas from 10 to 30%. In addition, the calculation of the thermal performance criterion, including both thermal and hydraulic parameters (friction factor), also confirmed the promise of using the Taylor segmented flow as a method for single-phase heat transfer intensifying in microchannels.

Automated summary

Experimental study demonstrated the effectiveness of intensifying convective heat transfer in microfluidic heat exchangers by creating a two-phase segmented flow, leading to increased Nusselt number and reduced thermal resistance. The enhancement was observed only within the range of gas volume fraction from 10% to 30%.