Subcooled flow boiling experiments with water at 0.2-atm pressure assess the utility of fine filament screen laminate enhanced surfaces as high-performance boiling surfaces. Experiments are conducted on vertically oriented, multilayer copper laminates in distilled water. The channel Reynolds number is varied from 2000 to 20,000, and subcooling ranges from 2 to 35 K. Boiling performance is documented for ten different porous surfaces having pore hydraulic diameters ranging from 39 μm to 105 μm, and surface area enhancement ratios ranging from 5 to 37. Heat flux of up to 446 W/cm2 is achieved at 35 K subcooling at a channel Reynolds number of 6000, which represents a 3.5-fold increase in critical heat flux (CHF) over that of the saturated pool boiling on the same surface. Results show that CHF is strongly correlated with subcooling, and the effect of subcooling is more pronounced as the channel Reynolds number is increased. It is found that CHF enhancement due to subcooling and channel Reynolds number is intrinsically linked to the surface area enhancement ratio, which has an optimum that depends on the degree of subcooling. High-speed video imagery (up to 8100 fps) and long-range microscopy are used to document bubble dynamics. Boiling mechanisms inherent to subcooling, enhanced surface geometry, and CHF are discussed.

An important design objective that is unique to hand-held units is the need to constrain two temperatures: the maximum temperature of the electronic components and the maximum skin temperature of the hand-held unit. The present work identifies and evaluates, through parametric modeling and experiments, the passive thermal energy storage volume characteristics and phase change material composite properties that are most suitable for thermal control of small form-factor, high power-density, hand-held electronics. A one-dimensional transient analytical model, based on an integral heat balance, is formulated and benchmarked. The model accurately simulates the heat storage/recovery process in a semi-infinite, “dry” phase change material slab. Dimensional analysis identifies the time and temperature metrics and nondimensional parameters that describe the heat storage/release process. Parametric analysis illustrates how changes in these nondimensional parameters affect thermal energy storage volume thermal response.

Saturated pool-boiling experiments at 1 atm and subatmospheric pressure assess the utility of fine-filament screen-laminate enhanced surfaces as effective bubble nucleation sites. Experiments were conducted on vertically oriented, multilayer laminates in saturated distilled water at pressures of 0.2–1.0 atm. The performance of 12 different copper-filament surfaces, having pore hydraulic diameters ranging from 14 μ m to 172 μ m , is documented. Experimental results show that boiling performance is a strong function of screen-laminate geometry. In the present work, enhancement of up to 27 times that of an unenhanced surface was obtained at a superheat of 8 K and a pressure of 0.2 atm. Dimensional analysis and multiparameter regression are used to develop a heat transfer correlation that relates the boiling heat transfer coefficient to the lamination geometry.

A thermal response model for designing a hybrid thermal energy storage (TES) heat sink is developed. The stabilization time and maximum operating (hot side) temperature-to-transition temperature difference are used to characterize the performance of the heat sink. The thermal properties of the PCM employed in the design are investigated. Integration of a design optimization algorithm into a thermal performance model of the TES-hybrid heat sink results in determination of a best design subject to geometric and heat loading constraints. A prototype based on this best design is build and used to benchmark the performance model. The performance measured is consistent with the simulation model predictions of performance.

Two figures of merit for hybrid Thermal Energy Storage (TES) units are developed: the volumetric figure of merit, V ˜ , and the temperature control figure of merit, Δ T ˜ . A dimensional analysis shows that these quantities are related to the performance specification of the storage unit and its physical design. A previously benchmarked semi-empirical finite volume model is used to study the characteristics of various plate-type TES-unit designs. A parametric study is used to create a database of optimal designs, which is then used to form simple correlations of V ˜ and Δ T ˜ in terms of design requirements and attributes. A preliminary design procedure utilizing these figures of merit is suggested. Sample calculations show that these correlations can be used to quickly determine the design attributes of a plate-type TES-unit, given design requirements.

Spectral element simulations of three-dimensional flow and augmented convection in a flat passage downstream from a fully developed channel with symmetric, transverse grooves on opposite walls were performed for 405⩽Re⩽764. Unsteady flow that develops in the grooved region persists several groove-lengths into the flat passage, increasing both local heat transfer and pressure gradient relative to that in a steady flat passage. Moreover, the heat transfer for a given pumping power in the first three groove-lengths of the flat passage was greater than the levels observed in a fully developed grooved passage.

Experiments are reported on the thermal performance of model fan-sink assemblies consisting of a small axial flow fan which impinges air on a square array of pin-fins. Cylindrical, square, and diamond shape cross section pin-fins are considered. The pin-fin heat transfer coefficient is found to be maximum immediately under the fan blades and minimum below the fan hub and near the corners of the array. The overall heat sink thermal resistance, R , decreases with an increase in either applied pressure rise or fan power and fin height. At fixed applied pressure rise, R is minimized when the fin pitch-to-diameter ratiois maximum. At fixed fan power, R is minimized when the pitch-to-diameter ratio is reduced toward unity. Finally, cylindrical pin-fins give the best overall fan-sink performance.

The cooling performance of in-line and staggered regular arrays of simulated electronic packages is compared for both sparse and dense packaging configurations. At equal flow rates, staggered arrays exhibit higher element heat transfer coefficients and friction factors than in-line arrays. Furthermore, an increase in the packaging density of the elements results in a moderate reduction in the friction factor with negligible change in the heat transfer coefficient. However, when performance is expressed in terms of heat transfer rate per unit packaging system volume, dense arrays are found to out perform sparse arrays at equal flow rate, applied pressure gradient or pumping power. Furthermore, no significant difference in performance is observed between staggered and in-line configurations when they are compared on the basis of either equal coolant flow pressure drop or pumping power.

Earlier experiments have shown that cutting transverse grooves into one surface of a rectangular cross-sectional passage stimulates flow instabilities that greatly enhance heat transfer/pumping power performance of air flows in the Reynolds number range 1000 < Re < 5000. In the current work, heat transfer, pressure, and velocity measurements in a flat passage downstream from a grooved region are used to study how the flow recovers once it is disturbed. The time-averaged and unsteady velocity profiles, as well as the heat transfer coefficient, are dramatically affected for up to 20 hydraulic diameters past the end of the grooved section. The recovery lengths for shear stress and pressure gradient are significantly shorter and decrease rapidly for Reynolds numbers greater than Re = 3000. As a result, a 5.4-hydraulic-diameter-long recovery region requires 44 percent less pumping power for a given heat transfer level than if grooving continued.

Heat transfer experiments are reported on the thermal performance of longitudinal fin heat sinks attached to an electronic package which is part of a regular array of packages undergoing forced convection air cooling. The effect of coolant bypass on the performance of the heat sink is assessed and performance correlations for reduced heat transfer due to this effect are developed. These correlations are used to develop design guidelines for optimal performance.

Measurements of the distribution of convective heat transfer over the five exposed faces of a low profile electronic package are described. The package, of square planform and length-to-height ratio, L/a = 6 , is part of a regular array of such elements attached to one wall of a low aspect ratio channel. The coolant is air, and experiments are described for the Reynolds number range, 3000<Re<7000. The average heat transfer coefficient for the top face is found to be nearly equal to the overall average heat transfer coefficient for the element. The average heat transfer coefficient for the upstream face and two side faces are higher than the overall average by approximately 30–40 percent and 20–30 percent, respectively while that for the downstream face is 20–30 percent less than the overall average. Furthermore, the distribution in local heat transfer coefficient over the five surfaces of the element is approximately independent of variations in Reynolds number.

Velocimetry, heat transfer, and pressure drop experiments are reported for laminar/transitional air flow in a channel containing rectangular transverse ribs located along one channel wall. The geometry is intended to represent an array of low profile electronic packages. At fixed pumping power per unit channel volume, the heat transfer rate per unit volume is independent of rib-to-rib spacing and increases with decreasing wall-to-wall spacing. The fully developed, rib-average heat transfer coefficient is found to be linearly related to the maximum streamwise rms turbulence measured above the rib-tops. Linear correlations, in terms of a descriptor of the rms streamwise turbulence, are shown to unify heat transfer/pressure drop data for channels containing either two-or three-dimensional protrusions.

Experiments on heat transfer augmentation in a rectangular cross-section water channel are reported. The channel geometry is designed to excite normally damped Tollmien-Schlichting modes in order to enhance mixing. In this experiment, a hydrodynamically fully developed flow encounters a test section where one channel boundary is a series of periodic, saw-tooth, transverse grooves. Free shear layers span the groove openings, separating the main channel flow from the recirculating vortices contained within each cavity. The periodicity length of the grooves is equal to one-half of the expected wavelength of the most unstable mode. The remaining channel walls are flat, and the channel has an aspect ratio of 10:1. Experiments are performed over the Reynolds number range of 300 to 15,000. Streakline flow visualization shows that the flow is steady at the entrance, but becomes oscillatory downstream of an onset location. This location moves upstream with increasing Reynolds numbers. Initially formed traveling waves are two dimensional with a wavelength equal to the predicted most unstable Tollmien-Schlichting mode. Waves become three dimensional with increasing Reynolds number and distance from onset. Some evidence of wave motion persists into the turbulent flow regime. Heat transfer measurements along the smooth channel boundary opposite the grooved wall show augmentation (65 percent) over the equivalent flat channel in the Reynolds number range 1200 to 4800. The degree of enhancement obtained is shown to depend on the channel Reynolds number, and increases with the distance from the onset location.