Solid-phase sintering process and forced convective heat transfer performance of porous-structured micro-channels

A solid-phase sintering process for the low-cost fabrication of composite micro-channels was developed. Three kinds of composite micro-channels with metallic porous structures were designed. The sintering process was studied and optimized to obtain porous-structured micro-channels with high porosity. The flow resistance and heat transfer performance in the composite micro-channels were investigated. The composite micro-channels show acceptable flow resistance, significant enhancement of heat transfer and dramatic improvement of flow boiling stability, which indicates a promising prospect for the application in forced convective heat transfer.

NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF GASEOUS FLOW IN MICRO-CHANNELS

The algorithm of gaseous flow in bi-dimensional micro-channels is set up andthe corresponding program based on micro-flow theory is presented. Gaseous flow in micro-channels isnumerically analyzed and the pressure drop along the duct as well .as the velocity profile in themicro-channels is obtained. The numerical results agreed well with the experimental results in thereferences. Moreover, the effects of Kn, sigma_v and Re on the velocity profiles are analyzed. It isfound that for Kn>0.001, with increasing Kn number, the slip velocity on the wall boundaryincreases; the tangential momentum coefficient sigma_v affects the slip velocity greatly. The slipvelocity increases with decreasing a, In the slip flow regime and for low Re numbers, the slipvelocity is little influenced by the Re number.

A Review on Flow Boiling of the Fluid with Lower Boiling Point in Micro-Channels

With the advancement of micro machining technology,the high-heat-flux removal from miniature electronic devices and components has become an attractive topic.Flow boiling in micro-channels is an optimal form of heat transfer and has been widely employed in high-heat-flux cooling applications.This comprehensively-reviewed article focused on the available recent literatures of experimental investigation regarding the flow boiling heat transfer and unstable behaviors of the fluid with lower boiling point in micro-channels.The thermal-fluid characteristics and potential heat transfer mechanisms of low-boiling-point fluids flow boiling in different narrow passages were summarized and discussed.The literatures regarding the pressure drop and occurrence of the unstable phenomena existing in two-phase flow boiling process were also discussed.The emphasis was given to the heat transfer enhancement methods as well as instability elimination,and various methods such as modification of surface and channel flow geometries were considered.Some future researches in the field of micro-scale flow boiling were suggested.

The Investigation on Flow Boiling Heat Transfer of R134a in Micro-channels

The present study reports an experimental evaluation of heat transfer characteristic of R134a flow boiling in mi- cro-channel heat sink. The heat sink is composed of 30 parallel rectangular micro-channels with cross-sectional dimensions of 500μm width and depth, as well as total length 30ram. Experiments were conducted with heat flux up to 80.212 W/cm2, mass velocity ranging from 373.33 to 1244.44 kg/m2s, vapor quality ranging from 0.06 to 0.9. The wall temperature of heat sink heated could be controlled at around 50℃. Heat transfer coefficient could be up to 180 kW/mZK. Two dominating flow patterns were observed by analyzing boiling curves. The heat trans- fer characteristics of nucleate boiling and convective boiling were presented in the study. Revised correlations of R134a flow boiling in micro-channel heat sink were carded out with the consideration of nucleate boiling and convective boiling mechanisms.

Fabrication of Highly Porous Interconnected Three-dimensional Scaffolds with Micro-channels

A novel highly porous 3-D poly（e-caprolactone） （PCL） scaffold with micro-channels was fabricated by injection molding and diluent acetic acids leaching technologies. In this study, the chitosan fiber was employed to form the microchannel in PCL matrix. The morphology, porosity and mechanical properties of the scaffolds were studied and calculated. It was found that the larger the content of chitosan fiber is, the higher the porosity would be, due to the volumetric expansion of chitosan fiber in PCL matrix during it being leached. In addition, the less the content of chitosan fiber is, the higher the compressive modulus would be.

Heat and Momentum Transport in Micro-Channels

Effect of velocity jump and temperature jump on the heat and momentum transfer in micro-domains is discussed in detail. A simulation aided by locally fully developed assumption is developed to ex-plain the experimental results different from those predicted by conventional theory. Heat transfer in microrchannels under the uniform heat flux is also analyzed. It is found that velocity-jump and temperature-jump have an opposite innuence and Nusselt number has a greater ralue when the Knud-sen number is very small. With the increasing of Knudsen Number, Nusselt number became smaller than 8.24.

Flow equation and similarity criterion during centrifugal casting in micro-channel

Liquid metal filling flow process in the microscale during the centrifugal casting process was studied by means of similar physical simulation. The research was focused on derived similarity criterion. Based on the traditional flow equations, the flow equation and the Bernoulli＇s equation for liquid metal flows in micro-scale space were derived, which provides a mathematical model for numerical simulation of micro-scale flow. In the meanwhile, according to the micro-flow equation and the similarity theory, the similarity criterion for the physical simulation of the mold filling behaviors was presented under centrifugal force field, so as to achieve the visual observation and quantitative analysis of micro-flow process.

Similar physical simulation of microflow in micro-channel by centrifugal casting process

By means of similar physical simulation, liquid metal filling flow pattern in the microscale during the centrifugal casting process was studied. It was found that, in microscale, the flow channel with the maximum cross-sectional area was filled first, and the micro flow channels with 0.1 mm in diameter were filled when the rotational speed was increased to 964 r/min. The total fluid energy remained constant during the mould filling, and the changes of cross-sectional area only occurred in the microflow channels with 0.3 mm in diameter. Filling velocity increased with processing time, and a peak value was achieved rapidly, followed by a gentle increase as the process proceeded further. The time required to achieve the peak filling rate decreased dramatically with increase of rotational speed.

Micromixing Efficiency of Viscous Media in Micro-channel Reactor

Micromixing efficiency of viscous media in Y-type micro-channel reactor was studied by using iodide-iodate test reaction as working system.Experiments were carried out in water-glycerin mixtures with 7 different viscosities.The experimental results showed that segregation index of the micro-channel reactor increases with the decrease of volumetric flow rate and the increase of solution viscosity.Based on the incorporation model,the micromixing time tm of the micro-channel reactor was estimated in the range of 10-4-10-3s at different viscosities,which indicated that the micro-channel reactor possesses a much better micromixing performance compared to the stirred tank(tm=0.02-0.2s).

Improved catalytic performance of Ni catalysts for steam methane reforming in a micro-channel reactor

Milliseconds process to produce hydrogen by steam methane reforming （SMR） reaction, based on Ni catalyst rather than noble catalyst such as Pd, Rh or Ru, in micro-channel reactors has been paid more and more attentions in recent years. This work aimed to further improve the catalytic performance of nickel-based catalyst by the introduction of additives, i.e., MgO and FeO, prepared by impregnation method on the micro-channels made of metal-ceramic complex substrate. The prepared catalysts were tested in the same micro-channel reactor by switching the catalyst plates. The results showed that among the tested catalysts Ni-Mg catalyst had the highest activity, especially under harsh conditions, i.e., at high space velocity and/or low reaction temperature. Moreover, the catalyst activity and selectivity were stable during the 12 h on stream test even when the ratio of steam to carbon （SIC） was as low as 1.0. The addition of MgO promoted the active Ni species to have a good dispersion on the substrate, leading to a better catalytic performance for SMR reaction.

RESEARCH ON DIFFUSION IN MICRO-CHANNEL FLOW DRIVEN BY ELECTROOSMOSIS

Numerical simulation using the finite differential method was carried out to analyze the diffusion of an impulse sample in the micro-channel driven by electroosmosis. The results show that the electrical field strength applied externally and the concentration of buffer solution play a significant role in the diffusion of sample, however, hydraulic diameter and aspect ratio of height to width of channel play a small role in it. Weakening the electrical field strength applied externally and the concentration of buffer solution properly can prevent the sample band from broadening effectively, and promote the efficiency of testing and separation as well as keep a faster speed of transport. The conclusions are helpful to the optimal design for micro-channel.

Flow characteristics of supersonic gas passing through a circular micro-channel under different inflow conditions

Gas flow in a micro-channel usually has a high Knudsen number. The predominant predictive tool for such a microflow is the direct simulation Monte Carlo(DSMC) method, which is used in this paper to investigate primary flow properties of supersonic gas in a circular micro-channel for different inflow conditions, such as free stream at different altitudes, with different incoming Mach numbers, and with different angles of attack. Simulation results indicate that the altitude and free stream incoming Mach number have a significant effect on the whole micro-channel flow field, whereas the angle of attack mainly affects the entrance part of micro-channel flow field. The fundamental mechanism behind the simulation results is also presented. With the increase of altitude, thr free stream would be partly prevented from entering into micro-channel.Meanwhile, the gas flow in micro-channel is decelerated, and the increase in the angle of attack also decelerates the gas flow. In contrast, gas flow in micro-channel is accelerated as free stream incoming Mach number increases. A noteworthy finding is that the rarefaction effects can become very dominant when the free stream incoming Mach number is low. In other words, a free stream with a larger incoming velocity is able to reduce the influence of the rarefaction effects on gas flow in the micro-channel.

CFD simulation of homogeneous reaction characteristics of dehydration of fructose to HMF in micro-channel reactors

In this work the applicability of the micro-channel reactor technique to the production of promising platform chemical 5-hydroxymethyl furan(HMF) from fructose in aqueous solution is systemically investigated by performing CFD simulations.Influential factors including solvents,residence time distribution of reaction mixtures,heat transfer conditions and micro-channel configurations are evaluated in terms of the reaction performance indices,i.e.,conversion of fructose,HMF selectivity and yield.A scale-up method from a single channel to a multiple channel reactor is also proposed.It is demonstrated that:1) at the single channel scale,controlling residence times and temperature distribution of the reaction mixture within the channel is crucial for enhancing the reaction performance,while different channel configurations lead to marginal improvements;2) for the scaling-up of the reaction process,a reactor module containing 15 circular parallel channels could be used as module blocks,which can be stacked one by one to meet the required reactor performance and production capacity.The present results show that micro-reactors are quite suitable for HMF production.

Modelling two-layer nanofluid flow in a micro-channel with electro-osmotic effects by means of Buongiorno’s model

A fully developed steady immiscible flow of nanofluid in a two-layer microchannel is studied in the presence of electro-kinetic effects.Buongiorno’s model is employed for describing the behavior of nanofluids.Different from the previous studies on two-layer channel flow of a nanofluid,the present paper introduces the flux conservation conditions for the nanoparticle volume fraction field,which makes this work new and unique,and it is in coincidence with practical observations.The governing equations are reduced into a group of ordinary differential equations via appropriate similarity transformations.The highly accurate analytical approximations are obtained.Important physical quantities and total entropy generation are analyzed and discussed.A comparison is made to determine the significance of electrical double layer(EDL)effects in the presence of an external electric field.It is found that the Brownian diffusion,the thermophoresis diffusion,and the viscosity have significant effects on altering the flow behaviors.

Heat Transfer Performance and Structural Optimization of a Novel Micro-channel Heat Sink

With the advent of the 5G era,the design of electronic equipment is developing towards thinness,intelligence and multi-function,which requires higher cooling performance of the equipment.Micro-channel heat sink is promising for the heat dissipation of super-thin electronic equipment.In this study,thermal resistance theoretical model of the micro-channel heat sink was first established.Then,fabrication process of the micro-channel heat sink was introduced.Subsequently,heat transfer performance of the fabricated micro-channel heat sink was tested through the developed testing platform.Results show that the developed micro-channel heat sink has more superior heat dissipation performance over conventional metal solid heat sink and it is well suited for high power LEDs application.Moreover,the micro-channel structures in the heat sink were optimized by orthogonal test.Based on the orthogonal optimization,heat dissipation performance of the micro-channel radiator was further improved.

Flowing simulation of injection molded parts with micro-channel

In the micro-molding of component with a micro-sized channel, the ability for polymer melt to flowing into the micro-channel in a macro-sized part is a big challenge. The multidimensional flow behaviors are included in the injection molding the macro-component with a micro-channel. In this case, a simplified model is used to analyze the flow behaviors of the macro-sized part within a micro-channel. The flow behaviors in the macro-cavity are estimated by using the finite element and finite difference methods. The influence of the injection rate, micro-channel size, heat transfer coefficient, and mold temperature on the flowing distance is investigated based on the non-isothermal analytic method. The results show that an increase in the radius of the micro-channel and mold temperature can improve effectively the flowing distance in the micro-channel.

Modeling and Simulation of a Hybrid Jet-Impingement/Micro-Channel Heat Sink

With the progressive increase in the number of transistors that can be accommodated on a single integrated circuit,new strategies are needed to extract heat from these devices in an efficient way.In this regard methods based on the combination of the so-called“jet impingement”and“micro-channel”approaches seem extremely promising for possible improvement and future applications in electronics as well as the aerospace and biomedical fields.In this paper,a hybrid heat sink based on these two technologies is analysed in the frame of an integrated model.Dedicated CFD simulation of the coupled flow/temperature fields and orthogonal tests are performed in order to optimize the overall design.The influence of different sets of structural parameters on the cooling performance is examined.It is shown that an optimal scheme exists for which favourable performance can be obtained in terms of hot spot temperature decrease and thermal uniformity improvement.

FLOW CHARACTERISTIC AND HEAT TRANSFER FOR SINGLE PHASE GASEOUS IN SLIP REGIME OF MICROCHANNEL FLOW

Based on analyzing some simulation models of single phase gaseous flow in microchannels （0. 001〈 Kn〈0. 1 ）, a numerical simulation of N-S equations with the slip model is presented. In the simulation, the collocated grid and the SIMPLE scheme are used. Results show that the pressure in the inlet is changed with Knudsen number. The slip speed and the temperature creep are increased with the augment of Knudsen number. The drag force decreases and the resistance of the heat trensfer has a little increase.

A Numerical Investigation into the Influence of Electrode-Related Parameters on Electroosmotic Mixing and Related Mechanisms

Electroosmosis is an effective method for liquid mixing.It is associated with the motion of a liquid in a microchannel induced by an applied electric field.In this manuscript,a numerical model is elaborated and implemented for the case of a straight channel with a single electrode pair.In particular,the Navier-Stokes equation combined with the Convection-diffusion and Helmholtz-Smoluchowski equation are used to simulate the resulting flow field.The influence of various electrode parameters on the mixing efficiency and the related mechanisms are investigated.The numerical results show that a pair of eddies are produced alternately by the changing electric field.The two liquids are mixed by the interaction of this pair of eddies.The length of the electrode affects the distance between these eddies,while the amplitude and frequency of electrode voltage determine the intensity and frequency of the eddy current,respectively.It is shown that by tuning properly the electrode parameters,the mixing efficiency can reach 97.5%.The optimization process implemented in the present work may lead in the future to a new approach to obtain controllable electroosmotic flow in microfluidic platforms.