Preliminary experimental results of measuring velocity fields of a transparent liquid flow in a closed circuit, through a 100 μm deep flat cell with heat exchanger microchannel elements are presented. The resolution and possible errors of the microscopic particle image velocimetry system are discussed in relation with the evaluation results. Particle fouling phenomenon, which proved to be the main difficulty in performing velocity field measurements in microchannels in the past, are widely overcome by techniques which avoid or limit it. The test object, which is aimed at being exposed to real technical conditions (pressures up to 0.6 MPa leading to flow velocities up to 15 m/s, as well as temperatures up to 100°C), was up to now operated at a Reynolds number of about 5. The obtained information allows for starting the test loop upgrade.

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