Experimental study of flow patterns, pressure drop, and flow instabilities in parallel rectangular minichannels

Abstract

Flow boiling heat transfer in parallel minichannels and microchannels is one of the solutions proposed for cooling high heat flux systems. The associated increase in the pressure drop poses a problem that needs to be studied in detail before the small diameter channels can be implemented in practical systems. The pressure drop fluctuations and the flow instability in a network of parallel channels connected by a common header also need to be addressed for the stable operation of flow boiling systems. The current work focuses on studying the flow patterns, pressure drop fluctuations, and flow instabilities in a set of six parallel rectangular minichannels, each with 333 μm in hydraulic diameter. Deionized and degassed water was used for all the experiments. The pressure fluctuations are recorded and signal analysis is performed to find the dominant frequencies and their amplitudes. These pressure fluctuations are then mapped to their corresponding flow patterns observed using a high speed camera. The results help us to relate pressure fluctuations to different flow characteristics and their effect on flow instability.