Experimental study on laminar convective heat transfer of microencapsulated phase change material slurry using liquid metal with low melting point as carrying fluid

The microencapsulated phase change material slurry using liquid metal with low melting point as carrying fluid (MEPCM-LM slurry) is a novel and powerful cooling fluid applied in thermal management of high power electronic devices. The laminar convective heat transfer performances of MEPCM-LM slurry in a tube with constant heat flux were investigated experimentally. The effects of MEPCM volume concentration, Re and heat rate on heat transfer characteristics were also studied. Results indicate that the Fanning friction factor of MEPCM-LM slurry d is in good accord with the theoretic values (f = 16/Re), and the MEPCM-LM slurry can be considered as Newton fluid. It is also found that the modified local convective heat transfer coefficient (hx∗) for MEPCM-LM slurry is higher than that for pure gallium. Furthermore, the hx∗ increases with increasing volume concentration and Re. The hx∗ increases with increasing the heat rate before phase change finished and the variation trend of hx∗ with heat rate is contrary after phase change finished, but the hx∗ is not much influenced by the imposed heat fluxes tested. The kind of MEPCM-LM slurry has good application future in practice.