An Experimental Study on the Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop in a Mini-Channel Heat exchanger for Electronic Cooling

摘要

Although the advance in electronic technology enables large number of circuitry to be packed in small volume, it is simultaneously needed to remove the high heat load produced by them. Since the use of a finned heat sink to these electronic components is limited by manufacturing constraints and noise levels, the use of liquid cooling is a promising way of maintaining low surface temperature by dissipating the large heat flux. In this study, the heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of a mini-channel heat exchanger, which was designed for liquid cooling of electronic components, were investigated with various operating conditions, working fluids, and test geometries. FC-72 and water were used as working fluids. The mini-channel heat exchanger was made with circular shape that had diameters of 2, 3, and 4 mm in regular intervals with a channel length of 100 mm. Copper block installed with heaters was attached to the sidewall of the test section as a heat source. The heat flux provided by the haters in the copper block ranged from 0.5 to 30 W/cm{sup}2. The heat transfer rate from the heat source to the working fluids was measured, and pressure drop characteristics of the test section were also investigated for single and two-phase flow.