Experimental and numerical pressure drop investigation of a protruding tube microchannel heat exchanger

Abstract

An experimental and numerical fluid flow study in a micro heat exchanger (microHEX) is conducted in this work to investigate its pressure drop characteristics. The microHEX sample presents a high degree of protrusion of the microchannels inside the inlet and outlet manifolds (Lprot /Dm =0.7), a large manifold-to-branch area aspect ratio (Am/As =37), and a very small flow division in each microchannel (ß=1/34). These features configure T-junctions that differ completely from the conventional ones in the literature. Experimental measurements of the microHEX pressure drop were performed for the Reynolds range of 300-2200. The numerical methodology combines a 1D model to evaluate the pressure drop of a single microchannel, adding minor entrance and exit losses due to the change of section and direction. A CFD numerical simulation evaluates the particular pressure loss associated with the dividing T-junction towards the protruded microchannel. The numerical simulation pressure drop results compared well with the experimental measurements, reporting a difference of 3.11% for an initial case. An extension of the work will soon cover all the collected experimental cases.