Heat Transfer Enhancement in Air Duct Flow By Micro-Channel Experimental And Numerical Investigation

Abstract

Abstract The heating of air flow through micro-channel was studied experimentally and numerically to examine the improvement in the thermal performance achieved by micro-channel. Numerically, laminar incompressible 3D steady-state Navier Stokes equations were solved by Finite volume method. Experimentally, a rig was built to investigate the cooling of air flow through micro-channel for different velocities and electric powers heater. The micro-channels block (length = 0.1, width = 0.05, height = 0.005 m) was manufactured from copper metal with 10 rectangular micro-channels (length = 0.1, width = 0.001, height = 0.0005 m). The performance of the microchannel was evaluated through exit air temperature value. The studied parameters numerically and experimentally were air velocities inside micro-channels (1 to 20 m/s) and heater powers (1 to 5 W). The comparison between numerical and experimental results was acceptable and reached 3% as maximum. Also the results were compared with other investigator results. High heat transfer coefficients values were achieved by micro-channel, reaches maximum value of 150 W/m2 K at velocity air 20 m/s and heater power 5 W.