Thermal analysis of micro‐channel heat exchangers with two‐phase flow using FEM

Purpose – To analyze two‐phase flow in micro‐channel heat exchangers used for high flux micro‐electronics cooling and to obtain performance parameters such as thermal resistance, pressure drop, etc. Both uniform and non‐uniform micro‐channel base heat fluxes are considered.Design/methodology/approach – Energy balance equations are developed for two‐phase flow in micro‐channels and are solved using the finite element method (FEM). A unique ten noded element is used for the channel descritization. The formulation also automatically takes care of single‐phase flow in the micro‐channel.Findings – Micro‐channel wall temperature distribution, thermal resistance and the pressure drop for various uniform micro‐channel base heat fluxes are obtained, both for single‐ and two‐phase flows in the micro‐channel. Results are compared against data available in the literature. The wall temperature distribution for a particular case of non‐uniform base heat flux is also obtained.Research limitations/implications – The anal...

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