Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in Microchannels With Rectangular Cross Section

Forced convective heat transfer coefficients and friction factor for flow of water and FC-72 in microchannels with a rectangular cross section were measured. An integrated microsystem consisting of five microchannels on one side and a localized heater and seven polysilicon temperature sensors along the selected channels on the other side was fabricated by using a double side polished silicon wafer. For the microchannels tested, the friction factor constant C = f Re_Dh obtained are values between 35.7 and 81.9, which are close to the theoretical value of 57.0. The measured Nusselt number in the laminar regime tested could be correlated by a correlation, Nu = A Re_Dh^1.37 Pr^1/3 where A is the value between 0.000 454 and 0.000 646.