Experimental investigation of fluid flow and heat transfer in a single-phase liquid flow micro-heat exchanger

This work presents an experimental analysis of the hydrodynamic and thermal performance of micro-heat exchangers. Two micro-heat exchangers, characterized by microchannels of 100 × 100 and 200 × 200 μm square cross-sections, were designed for that purpose. The fluid used was deionized water and there was no phase change along the fluid circuit. The fluid pressure drop along the heat exchanger and the heat transfer were measured and corrections were made to isolate the contribution of the microchannels. The results were compared with the predictions of the classical viscous flow and heat transfer theory. The main conclusions show that the experimental results fit well with these theories. No effects of heat transfer enhancement or pressure drop increase were observed as a consequence of the small scale of the microchannels.