Numerical Simulation of the Parallel Gap Resistance Welding Process of a Solar Cell and Mo/Pt/Ag Interconnector

Energy for space vehicles in low Earth orbit(LEO) is mainly generated by solar arrays, and the service time of the vehicles is controlled by the lifetime of these arrays, which depends mainly on the lifetime of the interconnects. To increase the service life of LEO satellites, molybdenum/platinum/silver(Mo/Pt/Ag) laminated metal matrix composite(LMMC) interconnectors are widely used in place of Mo/Ag LMMC and Ag interconnectors in solar arrays. A 2D thermal-electrical-mechanical coupled axisymmetric model was established to simulate the behavior of the parallel gap resistance welding(PGRW) process for solar cells and Mo/Pt/Ag composite interconnectors using the commercial software ANSYS. The direct multicoupled PLANE223 element and the contact pair elements TARGE169 and CONTA172 were employed. A transitional meshing method was applied to solve the meshing problem due to the ultrathin(1 μm) intermediate Pt layer. A comparison of the analysis results with the experimental results revealed that the best parameters were 60 W, 60 ms, and 0.0138 MPa. The voltage and current predicted by the finite element method agreed well with the experimental results. This study contributes to a further understanding of the mechanism of PGRW and provides guidance for finite element simulation of the process of welding with an ultrathin interlayer.

Experiments and Analyses on Heat Transfer Characteristics from a Solid Wall to a Strip-ShapedWick Structure

Centered or striped wick structures have been used to develop ultrathin heat pipes.Differing from traditional heat pipes,the centered or striped wick structures leave noncontact container surfaces with the wick structure.In this study,experiments andnumerical analyseswere conductedtoinvestigate the influenceof thesenoncontact surfaces.In the experiments,a strip-shaped wick structure was placed vertically,the top was sandwiched between wider rods and the bottom was immersed in a working fluid.The rod width was greater than the wick width;thus,noncontact surfaces were left between the rod and the wick structure.The heat was applied from the rod to the wick structure,and the evaporation heat transfer characteristics of the working fluid from the wick structure were evaluated.Water was used as the working fluid.The experiments were conducted by varying the rod and wick widths.The experimental results were obtained when the wick structures were placed separately.In the numerical analyses,the temperature and heat flux distributions in the rod were obtained.From the experimental and numerical results,it was confirmed that the noncontact surfaces caused the heat flux in the rod near both surfaces of the wick structure to concentrate,which increased the evaporation thermal resistance of the wick structure.A reduction in the noncontact surface area by increasing the wick width was found to be effective in decreasing the evaporation thermal resistance and increasing themaximumheat transfer rate of the wick structure.The separation of the wick structure increased the evaporation surface area.However,its effectiveness was limited when the heat transfer rate was small.

An Improved Heat Transfer Model for Flame Resistant Fabric Used in Thermal Protective Clothing

An improved numerical heat transfer model considering pyrolysis effect is proposed to predict thermal performance of heat-resistant fabric subjected to radiant heat flux. The model incorporates the heat-induced changes in fabric thermophysical properties. The new model has been validated with data from modified Radiant Protective Performance (RPP) tests of flame-resistant cotton fabrics. Comparison with experimental data shows that the predictions of mass loss rates and temperature profiles within the charring material and skin simulant are in reasonably good agreement with the experiments. Results from the numerical model contribute to a better understanding of the heat transfer process within flame-resistant fabrics under high heat flux conditions, and also to establish a systematic method for analyzing heat transfer in other fibrous materials applications.

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.

Experimental Study of Fouling on Heat Transfer Surface During Forced Convective Heat Transfer

An experimental study was conducted to investigate the fouling process of calcium carbonate on the heat transfer surface, during forced convective heat transfer. The dynamic monitoring apparatus of fouling resistance was set up for the present experiments. The fouling behavio（s were examined under different factors including fluid velocity, hardness,alkalinity, solution temperature, and wall temperature. Asymptotic fouling curves varying with time were obtained. The fouling rate and asymptotic fouling resistance increased and the induction periods were shortened with the fluid velocity decreasing, hardness andalkalinity increasing, and solution temperature and heat transfer surface temperature increasing. Thecomponents of fouling that formed on the heat transfer surface included crystallization fouling and particulate fouling. The thermal performance parameter of fouling,ρfhf, varied from 380 to 2600 kg·W·（m^4·K）^-1, increasing with growing velocity and decreasing solution temperature, hardness or alkalinity. Furthermore, the thermal conductivity of fouling, λf, varied from 1.7 to 2.2 W·（m·K）^-1 .

Analysis of influence of heat exchangerfouling on heat transfer performancebased on thermal fluid coupling

A study on heat transfer performance by thermal fluid coupling simulation for the fouling in a shell-tube heat exchanger used in engineering was presented. The coupling simulation was performed in a fluid and solid domains under three different fouling conditions: fouling inside the tube, fouling outside the tube, and fouling inside the shell. The flow field, temperature, and pressure distributions in the heat exchanger were solved numerically to analyze the heat transfer performance parameters, such as thermal resistance. It is found that the pressure drop of the heat exchanger and the thermal resistance of the tube wall increase by nearly 30% and 20%, respectively, when the relative fouling thickness reaches 10%. The fouling inside the tube has more impact on the heat transfer performance of the heat exchanger, and the fouling inside the shell has less impact.

Effect of contact thermal resistance on temperature distributions of concrete-filled steel tubes in fire

To predicate the temperature distribution of concrete-filled steel tubes(CFSTs) being exposure to fire,a finite element analysis model was developed using a finite element package,ANSYS.A suggested value of contact thermal resistance was therefore proposed with the supporting of massive numbers of collected test data.Parametric analysis was conducted subsequently towards the cross-sectional temperature distribution of CFST columns in four-side fire,in which the exposure time,width of the cross section,steel ratio were taken into account with considering contact thermal resistance.It was found that contact thermal resistance has little effect on the overall temperature regulation with the exposure time,the width of cross-section or the change of steel ratio.However,great temperature dropping at the concrete adjacent to the contact interface,and gentle temperature increase at steel tube,exist if considering contact thermal resistance.The results of the study are expected to provide theoretical basis for the fire resistance behavior and design of the CFST columns being exposure to fire.

New Approach and Alternate Criterion for Heat-transfer Analysis of Building Walls and Its Applications

Energy consumed by buildings accounts for approximately one-third of the total energy consumption of the society.Moreover,energy systems employed in buildings emit hazardous pollutants,such as,NOx,PM2.5 and CO2,into the environment.Consequently,increasing the energy efficiency of buildings constitutes an important problem concerning the field of building-energy and environment conservation.Thermal resistance and capacitance are two important thermophysical properties of building walls significantly impacting their heat-transfer performance.Traditional theories concerning these properties,however,face certain limitations:(1)the concept of thermal resistance is only valid for one-dimensional,steady heat conduction without existence of an internal heat source;(2)thermal resistance and capacitance are relevant,and can,therefore,not be used to analyze heat-transfer and storage performance,respectively,of building walls.Based on the entransy-dissipation-based impedance theory,a new approach towards realization of heat-transfer analysis and optimization has been proposed in this study.The weightiness of thermal resistance and capacitance with regard to heat-transfer performance has been described along with deduction of the corresponding substitutional relation via illustrative examples.The proposed approach has been demonstrated to effectively overcome aforementioned limitations of building energy conservation problems.

The logic analyses of heat transfer process between solids

The thermal switch algebra method and theory, which is used as a power tool of logic analyses of heat transfer process, is discussed in this paper, it was a practical application of pan-logic algebra in the heat science. As an example of heat switch algebra application, the logic algebra model of interfacial thermal resister between Bi-2223 and AIN were built at the range from 30K to 200K according to the thermal switch algebra theory. The computer simulation results were agreed greatly with experiment data, the error is less that 5%. The design and analyses of digit heat routes can be described by the thermal switch algebra as well.

Heat transfer of liquid metal alloy on copper plate deposited with film of different surface free energy

Liquid metal alloys(LMAs) are the potential candidates of thermal interface materials(TIMs) for electronics cooling.In the present work, buffer layers of Ag, Ti, Cu, Ni, Mo, and W were deposited on polished Cu plates by DC magnetron sputtering, the contact angles of de-ionized water and diiodomethane on the buffer layers were measured by an easy drop shape analyzer and the surface free energies(SFEs) of the buffer layers were calculated by the Owens–Wendt–Kaelble equation. Samples were prepared by sandwiching the filmed Cu plates and LMAs. The thermal properties of the samples were measured by laser flash analysis method. The SFE of the buffer layer has a strong influence on the interface heat transfer, whereas the measurement temperature has no obvious effect on the thermal properties of the samples. As the SFE of the buffer layer increases, the wettability, thermal diffusivity, and thermal conductivity are enhanced, and the thermal contact resistance is decreased.

Numerical Study on Heat Transfer Characteristics of Heated/Cooled Rods Having a Composite Board in between: Effect of Thermal Vias

By placing a sample between a heated and a cooled rod, a thermal conductivity of the sample can be evaluated easily with the assumption of a one-dimensional heat flow. However, a three-dimensional constriction/spreading heat flow may occur inside the rods when the sample is a composite having different thermal conductivities. In order to investigate the thermal resistance due to the constriction/spreading heat flow, the three-dimensional numerical analyses were conducted on the heat transfer characteristics of the rods. In the present analyses, a polymer-based composite board having thermal vias was sandwiched between the rods. From the numerical results, it was confirmed that the constriction/spreading resistance of the rods was strongly affected by the thermal conductivity of the rods as well as the number and size of the thermal vias. A simple equation was also proposed to evaluate the constriction/spreading resistance of the rods. Fairly good agreements were obtained between the numerical results and the calculated ones by the simple equation. Moreover, the discussion was also made on an effective thermal conductivity of the composite board evaluated with the heated and the cooled rod.

FLOW RESISTANCE AND HEAT TRANSFER CHARACTERISTICS OF A NEW-TYPE PLATE HEAT EXCHANGER

A new-type corrugation Plate Heat Exchanger （PHE） was designed. Results from both numerical simulations and experiments showed that the flow resistance of the working fluid in this new corrugation PHE, compared with the traditional chevron-type one, was decreased by more than 50%, and corresponding heat transfer performance was decreased by about 25%. The flow field of the working fluid in the corrugation PHE was transformed and hence performance difference in both flow resistance and heat transfer was generated. Such a novel plate, consisting of longitudinal and transverse corrugations, can effectively avoid the problem of flow path blockage, which will help to extend the application of PHEs to the situation with unclean working fluids.

Coupling Effect of Heat Transfer and Flow Resistance in the Rifled Tube Water Wall of a Ultra-Supercritical CFB Boiler

The coupling factor is used in this study to characterise the combined effect of the heat transfer and resistance characteristics of a rifled tube. Boundary layer theory is utilised to investigate the relationship between the comprehensive coefficient and Reynolds number in two regions, namely, higher and lower than pseudo-critical enthalpy. Results indicate that mass flux exerts a decisive negative influence on the coupling effect, and the impacts of pressure and heat flux are weak. The overall effect decreases rapidly as the mass flux increases, but it increases in the area behind the quasi-critical enthalpy. The coupling effect is also affected by specific heat ratio, thermal acceleration and buoyancy. The correlations of heat transfer and friction resistance are deduced with high precision according to experimental data.

Numerical investigation of pyrolysis effects on heat transfer characteristics and flow resistance of n-decane under supercritical pressure

Pyrolysis of hydrocarbon fuel plays an important role in the regenerative cooling process. In this article, a Two-Dimensional（2D） numerical model is proposed to investigate the pyrolysis effects on the heat transfer characteristics and flow resistance of n-decane under supercritical pressure. The one-step global pyrolytic reaction mechanism consisting of 19 species is adopted to simulate the pyrolysis process of n-decane. The thermophysical and transport properties of the fluid mixture are computed and incorporated into the numerical model for simulation. Comparisons between the current predictions and the open published experimental data are carried out and good agreement is achieved. In order to better understand the complicated physicochemical process, further investigations on the turbulent flow and heat transfer coupled with pyrolysis in a tube have been performed under various operating conditions. The results indicate that the pyrolysis intensively takes place in the high fluid temperature region. The occurrence of the heat transfer deterioration would lead to increasing n-decane conversion at the beginning of the heated section. It is found that the pyrolysis could improve the heat transfer deterioration and promote the heat transfer enhancement. Meanwhile, pyrolysis gives rise to an abrupt increase of flow resistance. The mechanisms of the physicochemical phenomena are also analyzed in a systematic manner, which would be very helpful in the development of the regenerative cooling technology.

Effects of Contact Resistance on Heat Transfer Behaviors of Fibrous Insulation

In this article, a numerical model combining conduction and radiation is developed based on two flux approximation to predict the heat transfer behavior of fibrous insulation used in thermal protection systems. Monte Carlo method is utilized to determine the modified radiative properties with experimentally measured transient external temperature as high as 1 000 K. It is found that the estimated radiative properties become time-independent after about t = 3 000 s. By comparing the predicted to the measured results in transient state, the contact resistance exerts significant influences upon the temperature distribution in the specimen. Results show that the averaged absolute deviation is 3.25% when contact resistance is neglected in heat transfer model, while 1.82% with no contact resistance.

Thermal Characteristics of Heat Pipe with Axially Swallow-tailed Microgrooves

A thermal model for a heat pipe with axially swallow-tailed microgrooves is developed and analyzed numerically to predict the heat transfer capacity and total thermal resistance.The effect of heat load on the axial distribution of capillary radius,and the effect of working temperature and wick structure on the maximum heat transfer capability,as well as the effect of the heat load and working temperature on the total thermal resistance are all investigated and discussed.It is indicated that the meniscus radius increases non-linearly and slowly at the evaporator and adiabatic section along the axial direction,while increasing drastically at the beginning of the condenser section.The pressure difference in the vapor phase along the axial direction is much smaller than that in the liquid phase.In addition,the heat transfer capacity is deeply affected by the working temperature and the size of the wick.A groove wick structure with a wider groove base width and higher groove depth can enhance the heat transfer capability.The effect of the working temperature on the total thermal resistance is insignificant;however,the total thermal resistance shows dependence upon the heat load.In addition,the accuracy of the model is also verified by the experiment in this paper.

Fabrication and thermal performance of grooved-sintered wick heat pipe

Some novel grooved-sintered composite wick heat pipes(GSHP) were developed for the electronic device cooling.The grooved-sintered wicks of GSHP were fabricated by the processes of oil-filled high-speed spin forming and solid state sintering.The wick could be divided into two parts for liquid capillary pumping flow:groove sintered zone and uniform sintered zone.Both of the thermal resistance network model and the maximum heat transfer capability model of GSHP were built.Compared with the theoretical values,the heat transfer limit and thermal resistance of GSHP were measured from three aspects:copper powder size,wick thickness and number of micro grooves.The results show that the wick thickness has the greatest effect on the thermal resistance of GSHP while the copper powder size has the most important influence on the heat transfer limit.Given certain copper powder size and wick thickness,the thermal resistance of GSHP can be the lowest when micro-groove number is about 55.

Experimental Study on Heat Transfer and Flow Resistance in Improved Latticework Cooling Channels

Characteristics of heat transfer and flow resistance of the latticework (vortex) cooling channel with ribs truncated at their two ends were theoretically and experimentally studied compared with regular and smooth channels of the same configuration. The results showed: the heat transfer efficiency of the latticework channel with two slots was better than those of regular and smooth channels of the same configuration, its flow resistance situation in the slotted channel becomes quite complex; The flow resistances of 2 mm- and 4 mm-slotted channels were obviously lower than that of the regular channel, but they are still much higher than that of the smooth channel; Compared with the regular channel, the total heat transfer efficiencies of the slotted channels were pretty improved, among them the 4-mm slotted channel has the biggest enhancement. From the experimental results, it is obvious that the latticework channel with proper slots has a great prospect in the design of the inner cooling channels of turbine blades.

Generalized thermal resistance for convective heat transfer and its relation to entransy dissipation

In order to further analyze and optimize convective heat transfer process further, the concepts of heat flux weighted average heat temperature and heat flux weighted average heat temperature difference in multi-dimensional heat transfer system were introduced in this paper. The ratio of temperature difference to heat flux is defined as the generalized thermal resistance of convective heat transfer processes, and then the minimum thermal resistance theory for convective heat transfer optimization was developed. By analyzing the relationship between generalized thermal resistance and entansy dissipation in convective heat transfer processes, it can be concluded that the minimum thermal resistance theory equals the entransy dissipation extremum theory. Finally, a two-dimensional convective heat transfer process with constant wall temperature is taken as an example to illustrate the applicability of generalized thermal resistance to convective heat transfer process analysis and optimization.

Experimental Studies on Thermal Performance of a Pulsating Heat Pipe with Methanol/DI Water

The effect of working fluid on the start-up and thermal performance in terms of thermal resistance and heat transfer coefficient of a pulsating heat pipe have been studied in the present paper. Methanol and de-ionized water has been selected as the working fluid. The minimum startup power for DI water was obtained at 50% filling ratio and for methanol at 40%. The optimum filling ratio in terms of minimum startup power and minimum thermal resistance was 50% for DI water and 40% for methanol. The minimum thermal resistances for DI water and methanol were observed at vertical orientation. The evaporator side heat transfer coefficient for water was slightly more, while the condenser side heat transfer coefficient was appreciably more than that of methanol. Studies were also conducted for start-up time and temperature at different orientations and it was found that the PHP charged with methanol worked efficiently at all orientations.