MICRO-PARTICLE IMAGE VELOCIMETRY VISUALIZATION OF WATER FLOW IN A COMPLEX MICRO-HEAT EXCHANGER

摘要

The fluid dynamics of water flow in a complex micro-heat exchanger for electronics cooling applications have been examined using micro-particle image velocimetry (PIV) methods. Instantaneous and ensemble-averaged flow fields have been measured at several locations within a series of tortuous, serpentine microchannels at a range of Reynolds numbers between 375 and 1180, based on a channel hydraulic diameter of about 381 microns. The flow response has been directly compared with previously developed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to validate those predictions. The velocity profiles obtained from the two methods agreed reasonably well within the measurement uncertainty for most conditions. These results further demonstrate the utility of micro-PIV as a validation tool for complex geometry CFD simulations.