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• 09/07/2006 - News:

Miniaturization of engineering systems leads to requirements for intensive heat transfer internally and between systems and their environment. Heat transfer may become a limiting influence on performance. Boiling and condensation processes are potentially very efficient modes of heat transfer and can be used in a wide range of engineering systems, e.g. for the cooling of microelectronic components or the operation of some power and refrigeration systems, fuel cells and chemical reactors. The wide range of applications includes aerospace and transport, cooling and heating systems for the built environment, electronics and opto-electronics, personal computers and communications and the process industries. This is illustrated by the range of activities of the Industrial Participants in this project.

As the scale of a system is reduced, boiling and condensation become increasingly influenced by the interaction between surface tension forces and the micro-geometry of the flow passages. The main objectives of this project are:

1. To study experimentally vapour/liquid phase change in single and multiple microchannels with a variety of geometries, devising active and passive means of enhancing and controlling heat transfer.
2. To develop models and simulations for flow boiling and condensation in microchannels, validated against global and localised experimental data.
3. To develop design methods, with an appraisal of applications for which particular methods of enhancement are appropriate.
4. To develop a prototype thermal control package for cooling an integrated circuit chip with a peak heat flux of 2 MW/m2 and to conduct tests on prototype microchannel condensers

The project brings together Academic Partners with extensive experience in boiling, condensation, micro-fabrication and numerical simulation. A special feature of the project is the synergistic investigation of common features of flow boiling and condensation in microchannel flows that are strongly influenced by surface tension. Brunel, Edinburgh and Heriot Watt will conduct experimental and theoretical investigations of different aspects of flow boiling, Queen Mary College will investigate condensation and Nottingham will develop numerical simulations by continuum and molecular methods in collaboration with the other partners, see Table below.