Seed Bubble Guided Heat Transfer in a Single Microchannel

Abstract

We use the seed bubble concept for manipulating the evaporative heat transfer in a heated microchannel with smooth surfaces. Using this concept, separation of bubble nucleation and growth is obtained to simplify the heat transfer system. Not only is the temperature excursion at the boiling incipience eliminated, but also the heat transfer system displays well-ordered and repeated flow characteristics. The heat transfer rates and wall temperatures can be controlled through adjusting the seed bubble frequency. The method provides a thermal management solution for microsystems and a tool for the study of the intricate flow and heat transfer.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (50825603) and the Natural Science Foundation of China (50776089).

Jinliang Xu is a professor at North China Electric Power University. He received his Ph.D. degree in thermal engineering at the State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow, Xian Jiaotong University, in 1995. He founded Micro Energy System Laboratory at Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in 2002. He has more than 40 refereed papers published in international journals. In April 2009, he joined North China Electric Power University and has been the director of the Beijing Key Laboratory of New and Renewable Energy. His research interests include new and renewable energy, thermal Microsystems, and optical measurements for microsystems.

Wei Zhang is an associate professor at North China Electric Power University, China. He received his Ph.D. degree from Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in 2008. He worked as a postdoctoral associate on a multiphase microreactor at Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands, from 2008 to 2009. He joined the Beijing Key Laboratory of New and Renewable Energy at North China Electric Power University in May 2009. His current research interests involve renewable energy and microscale heat transfer.

Guohua Liu is a Ph.D. student at Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He received his M.S. degree in HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) from Xian University of Architecture and Technology. His current research interest is microscale flow and heat transfer.