The Impact of Converging and Diverging Angle on the X-Shaped Micro-Channels

Flows in channels and pipes are often used in the chemical and mechanical engineering applications. In the past, several studies of micro-channels have focused on the mixture characteristics in the C-shaped and the T-shaped with complex flow field of temperature gradient, velocity vector, and pressure change. However, the purpose of this study is to research the flow transport phenomenon by employing different angles to the converging and diverging area in X-shaped micro-channels. As the working fluid, water is injected to micro-channel at different mass flow rate. Over a wide range of flow condition, 0.88 < Re < 661, in X-shaped micro-channels, the mixture performances of numerical simulation, flow visualization, and temperature distribution remain the same. At the same mass flow rate, the bigger the angle, the lower the pressure drops and the slower the low velocity becomes. Therefore, it is the biggest angle that has the best mixture of performance and needs the shortest distance in the mixing area. It is clear that the angle plays an important role in both converging and diverging area in the X-shaped micro-channels.