Boiling and Evaporation in Microchannels

Synonyms

Flow boiling in microchannels; Flow boiling in narrow channels

Definition

Flow boiling in a microchannel refers to the boiling of a liquid, caused by the addition of heat through the channel walls, as it flows through a microchannel resulting in a net vapor generation at the exit.

Overview

Microchannels are defined on the basis of the following definition by Kandlikar and Grande [1]:

$$ \begin{aligned}\displaystyle&\displaystyle\textrm{Conventional channels:}&\displaystyle D&\displaystyle>{\mathrm{3}}{\mathrm{mm}}\\ \displaystyle&\displaystyle\textrm{Minichannels:}&\displaystyle{\mathrm{3}}{\mathrm{mm}}\geqslant D&\displaystyle>{\mathrm{200}}{\mathrm{\mu m}}\\ \displaystyle&\displaystyle\textrm{Microchannels:}&\displaystyle{\mathrm{200}}{\mathrm{\mu m}}\geqslant D&\displaystyle>{\mathrm{10}}{\mathrm{\mu m}}\\ \displaystyle&\displaystyle\textrm{Transitional channels:}&\displaystyle{\mathrm{10}}{\mathrm{\mu m}}\geqslant D&\displaystyle>{\mathrm{0.1}}{\mathrm{\mu...