A Comparative Study of Flow Boiling in a Microchannel With Piranha Pin Fins

Abstract

In this paper, we report on the recent development of an advanced microscale heat sink, termed as piranha pin fin (PPF). A 200 μm deep microchannel embedded with PPFs was fabricated and tested. Fluid flow and heat transfer performance were evaluated with HFE7000 as the working fluid. The surface temperature, pressure drop, heat transfer coefficient, and critical heat flux (CHF) conditions were experimentally obtained and discussed. A 676 W/cm2 CHF was achieved based on the heater area and at an inlet mass flux of 2460 kg/m2 s. Microchannels with different PPF configurations were investigated and studied for different flow conditions. It was found that a microchannel with PPFs can dissipate high heat fluxes with reasonable pressure drops. Flow conditions and PPF configuration played important roles for both fluid flow and heat transfer performances. These studies extended knowledge and provided useful reference for further PPF design in microchannel for flow boiling.