Measuring heat transfer performance of viscoelastic fluid flow in curved microchannel using Ti–Pt film temperature sensor

• Stable temperature measurement sensor Ti–Pt film in microchannel was established.
• By calibration, the Ti–Pt film temperature measurement error is less than 1%.
• Viscoelastic fluid conditions have notable heat transfer performance enhancement.
• The numerical prediction of friction factor in curved microchannel is obtained.

Temperature measurement is the core technique for investigating heat transfer in microfluidics. In this paper, the resistance thermometry of Titanium–Platinum (Ti–Pt) films is manufactured by microelectronic manufacturing technology and used for the micro-scaled temperature measurement. In order to obtain the accurate temperature on the bottom wall of microchannel, the Ti–Pt films are embedded on the bottom wall. With standardized calibration and error analysis, the experimental system is proven to be reliable and stable for flow and temperature measurement. The experiments of viscoelastic fluid with heat transfer at very-low-Re flow in the curved microchannel are conducted. Both viscoelastic fluid (polymeric solution) and Newtonian fluid (sucrose solution) are used as working fluids, and the corresponding heat transfer performances are obtained. Comparing with Newtonian fluid flow, higher heat transfer rate of viscoelastic fluid flow is achieved due to the irregular motion induced by the fluid viscoelasticity in the curved microchannel.