Electromagnetic (EM) heat exchangers (HX) are critical components in power beaming applications where EM waves are radiated towards an EM HX, which then converts incident energy into heat or mechanical work. An EM HX consists of a lossy ceramic undergoing EM heating, and a fluid flow maintaining thermal contact transfers heat from the ceramic. Temperatures during high-power EM processing of ceramics materials such as zirconia suggest that liquids would be in gaseous phase, so models of EM HX with compressible gas dynamics may provide insights into experimental scenario. As a first step, we consider an EM HX such that plane Poiseuille flow of an incompressible coolant whose density drops linearly with temperature is situated above a lossy ceramic material. Compressible effects are negligible, but density gradients within the fluid can give rise to buoyancy-driven flow under the action of gravity, which may affect the performance of the device. We determine the power of incident waves at which Bénard convection is initiated, through a linear stability analysis, in the fluid layer. We show that in case of temperature dependent ceramic loss factor, perturbations in temperature give rise to an electric (fringe) field which then feeds back into the system promoting the Bénard instability.

An effective cooling mechanism is the backbone of a good automotive battery thermal management system (BTMS). In addition to prevention of extreme events such as thermal runaway, an automotive BTMS must be able to efficiently tackle aggressive environmental temperatures, and/or discharge and charge conditions during electric vehicle operation. Moreover, electrical performance and cycle life of the battery modules and packs are closely tied to the battery temperatures and thermal gradients, which increase with increase in C-Rates. In order to keep the battery temperatures to be under the operational temperature limit, it is crucial that the selected cooling mechanism provides efficient transport of the heat generated by the battery modules and packs to the cooling media under all discharge and charge conditions. Owing to its efficient thermal performance, liquid cooling is preferred by most electric vehicle manufacturers for battery thermal management. This usually incorporates battery modules exchanging heat with a flowing coolant via cold plate or cooling channels during operation. The current work aims to investigate different liquid cooling configurations and compare their relative thermal performance during operation of a high energy density Pouch Cell. The four configurations selected for this comparison are (1) Face cooling, (2) Single-Sided cooling, (3) Double-Sided cooling, and (4) a Hybrid cooling configuration. Test setups comprising of a commercially available 9 A-h NMC Pouch cell, cold plates, pump, heat exchanger, refrigeration cooling unit, and thermal sensors are built for the above four cooling configurations. During the tests, the selected cell is discharged at different discharge rates (C-Rates), i.e., 3C, 4C, and 5C. The overall cell temperatures and thermal gradient across the cell are measured using T-type thermocouples for the four cooling configurations. In order to capture the thermal gradient across the Pouch cell accurately, several thermocouples on the face of the cell are installed using a thermal interface material. Results show the superiority of Face cooling configuration in terms of overall thermal performance under all considered test conditions. Lowest cell temperatures and thermal gradients across the cell are observed for the Face cooling configuration, while highest temperatures and thermal gradients are observed for the Single-Sided cooling configuration. Much improved thermal performance is also observed in the case of the Hybrid cooling configuration as compared to the Single and Double-Sided cooling configurations. As implementation of the Face cooling configuration at the battery pack level may result in higher weight and cost of the battery pack, owing to its good thermal performance and straightforward scaling to battery pack level, the proposed hybrid liquid cooling mechanism provides a viable alternative to Face cooling for battery thermal management.

In some engineered systems, the interface thermal conductance is a key parameter that governs the heat transfer behaviour of components in solid-solid contact. For example, in certain postulated accident scenarios for CANDU reactors, the pressure tube (PT) may deform into contact with the calandria tube (CT) to form a more direct path for heat transfer from the fuel to the moderator. There have been no direct measurements of interface thermal conductance in integrated “Contact boiling” experiments designed to mimic this Loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) scenario due to the geometrical limits of the test components and the cumbersome nature of the instrumentation required to extract contact conductance data. It has been noted that the modelling of the contact conductance is one of the main sources of uncertainty in predicting the outcome of the contact boiling experiments that mimic LOCA scenarios. The present study demonstrated an analogy between the electrical and thermal contact conductance for PT/CT interfaces. The range of interface pressure and interface temperatures studies are selected to match the expected range of conditions during a CANDU LOCA scenario. The experiment setup consists of two sets of specimen representing PT and CT material. The specimen are instrumented with four K-type thermocouples in sequence to capture the temperature gradient imposed via a three-chamber oven. Within a range of interface pressures from 2 to 7 MPa and a temperature range from 510 to 720°C, the analogy is independent of the interface pressure or the load applied. This demonstrates the measurement of the electrical conductance between the PT and CT in contact boiling as a promising technique for obtaining in-situ information on the thermal contact conductance during integrated experiments.

Simulations of film cooling in the near field (x/D < 15) of coolant jets on a flat plate are carried out with detached eddy simulation (DES) and modified DES models. The time-averaged unsteady film cooling effectiveness is compared with experimental data. Both models use two-layer zonal model for near-wall treatment. The near field critical turbulent flow behaviors such as mainstream entrainment, spanwise spreading of counter rotating vortex pair (CRVP), and vortical structure evolutions are predicted and analyzed by DES and modified DES in this study. Modified DES model differs from the DES by implementing an increased eddy viscosity in the spanwise direction to enhance spanwise-diffusion of film cooling jets. Detailed comparisons of DES and modified DES modeling results are made under density ratios of 2.0, 1.6, 1.2 and blowing ratio of 1.0 for a single hole. Modified DES model predicts a wider spanwise spreading of temperature field and film cooling effectiveness. In a comparison of spanwise-averaged film cooling effectiveness with experimental data, DES and modified DES models predict 14.8% and 10.4% deviations under density ratio of 2.0. For density ratio of 1.2, the DES and modified DES results deviate from data 24.5% and 14.7% respectively. Then simulation of film cooling with a three hole domain is also carried out. Instantaneous effectiveness results show that the jets from nearby film cooling holes start to interact with each other before x/D < 10. When the interactions of flow from film cooling holes next to each other are strong, simulations using several cooling holes are meaningful and the current study shows the difference of multi hole and single hole simulations.

One way to enhance thermal performance of the Li-ion batteries is embedding microgrooves inside the porous electrodes and flowing the electrolyte through these microgrooves. A 2D thermal Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) was employed to predict electrolyte flow, heat transfer, and internal heat generation inside the positive porous electrode. Size and number of the microgrooves were investigated, and it was found that embedding microgrooves inside the porous electrode improved the thermal performance of the Li-ion battery by keeping the electrode in lower temperatures and improving its temperature uniformity. Furthermore, increasing the number of microgrooves (in a constant ratio between total size of the microgrooves to size of the porous electrode) kept the porous electrode in lower temperatures and enhanced temperature uniformity.

An experimental study was conducted in a closed loop spray cooling system working with deionized water as a cooling medium, to investigate the effects of surface modification on the spray cooling heat transfer enhancement in the single-phase region. Plain copper surface with diameter 1.5 cm and an enhanced surface with circular grooves were tested under different operating conditions. The volumetric flow rate of the coolant ranged from 115 mL/min to 177 mL/min., and the water inlet temperature was kept between 21–23 °C. Also, the distances between the nozzle and the target surface were varied at 8, 10, and 12 mm respectively. The results show that the distance between the nozzle and the target surface did not have a significant effect on the heat transfer performance for the low flow rates, while it has a slight effect on high flow rates for both surfaces. Also, increasing the liquid volumetric flow rate increases the amount of heat removed, and the heat transfer coefficient for both surfaces. Moreover, the maximum enhancement ratios achieved were 23.4% and 31% with volumetric flow rates of 153 mL/min, and 177 mL/min respectively.

The effective use of coolant in maintaining gas turbine components below failure limits is becoming increasingly necessary in view of increasing combustor exit temperatures. Incorporating coolant impingement in a pin-finned channel provides an avenue for increased heat transfer. Two types of cooling configuration are modeled and compared: case 1: with the jet impinging in a cut out region behind a pin-fin (thus sheltering the jet from crossflow effects), and case 2: with the jet impinging further downstream along the next row of pin-fin and downstream of the wake region of the upstream pin-fin. In the current work, a Large Eddy Simulation (LES) study is conducted for a Reynolds number of 7500. All other geometrical and flow parameters are kept similar in both the configurations to enable a direct comparison. Since the stagnation point Nusselt number is not affected by the cross-flow in the sheltered configuration, there is enhanced cooling as compared to the configuration in which the jet impinges further downstream and is not protected from the crossflow. In this paper, the flow field, the jet-crossflow interactions and the heat transfer behavior are discussed for both the configurations.

A new advanced film cooling scheme, named high-aspect-ratio holes has been proposed. Four configurations were designed, and numerically simulated under density ratio of 2 and different blowing ratios. All configurations demonstrate extremely high film cooling effectiveness values, some are as high as the so-called perfect performance, while their mechanical strength are similar to the conventional schemes. The new scheme exhibits two traits distinctive from the conventional geometries: Its film cooling effectiveness is much higher than the coverage ratio ( t/P ), and the high film cooling effectiveness is obtained under strong counter-rotating vortex pair (CRVP). It has been found that, in the new scheme, along with the aspect ratio value increase, the CRVP move away from the coolant-mainstream interface, and the coolant laterally expands in the vicinity of the exit. Consequently, a continuous coolant film would occur near the trailing edge position if aspect ratio is high enough. The approach of high-aspect-ratio holes could be used to design the highest film cooling performance geometries.

This study uses CFD to consider the effects of obstructions (bosses) on the fluid flow and heat transfer in finned heat sinks used for cooling electronic components. In particular, the effect of bosses, used for mounting components, on the fluid flow distribution and temperature distribution in the heat sink are evaluated. A typical heat sink has fins sandwiched between top and bottom plates, with electronic components mounted on the plates. The top and bottom plates spread the heat generated in the components to reduce the local heat flux. The fins substantially increase the heat transfer area, reducing the temperature rise from the coolant to the top and bottom plates. In this case a uniform distribution of flow across the heat sink can be achieved and there will be no localized hot spots. Ideally there are no protrusions into the finned portion of the heat sink which would cause disruptions in the uniform flow through the heat sink. However, a boss may be needed to bolt a component to the heat sink. The presence of the boss has three effects on the heat sink performance. The boss disrupts the flow in its immediate vicinity, increasing the thermal resistance. This will cause an increase in operating temperature at that location. In addition, the boss will change the flow distribution in the heat sink. Locations upstream and downstream of the boss may see reduced flow due to the obstruction, which in turn will cause an increase in operating temperature for these areas of the heat sink. Finally, the change in flow distribution may increase the pressure drop through the entire heat sink, increasing the power required to operate the system. The purpose of this study is to numerically evaluate the clearance requirements around circular bosses. Comparisons between an unobstructed heat sink and a heat sink with an obstruction are made for the maximum component temperature rise, the pressure drop and the flow distribution. Clearance ratios, diameter of the fin cut out to boss diameter, were varied from 1.1 to 3.3. The Reynolds number for the flow was varied from roughly 3000 to 70,000 based on the hydraulic diameter of flow passage.

Constructal principles are used to investigate the optimization of material utilization in a metal matrix heat sink that maximizes the total heat transfer rate through the base of heat sink. This approach utilizes a two-dimensional geometry to examine spatial heat flow and optimal material distribution in a metal matrix in the plane perpendicular to the coolant flow direction. The matrix is composed of multiple layers of conductive tees built up from the smallest constituent, the unit T-cell. The unit cell consists of a conductive tee-shaped geometry with the two rectangular void regions each making up half of a cooling channel. The horizontal boundaries must match the temperature and heat flux at the boundaries of the neighboring unit cells as this is a conjugate conduction/convection problem. The geometry of the unit cell is characterized by aspect ratios of channel width to height, overall cell width to height, and channel height to cell height. The matrix structure is assembled by stacking unit cells into multiple layers where the number of cells in each layer is an integer multiple of the cells contained in the lower layer. The solution is obtained for optimal T-cell geometric parameters under a set of predetermined constraints including overall volume, solid fill fraction, and number of layers. When a large number of stacked unit cells are considered, the results describe the ideal spatial distribution of porosity and pore sizes for two dimensional functionally graded metal-matrix heat sink. These results will lead to a better understanding of the role played by the porosity distribution in a metal-matrix heat sink and may be applied to the analysis, optimization, and design of more effective heat sinks.

The exponential growth in electronic power has brought amazing technology but with it also comes a burden in high heat production that threatens the safety of the product since electronics’ failure rate increases by its operating temperature. As such, cooling techniques have a key role to keep the temperature of electronics devices, such as processors, memory and graphics chips, below a maximum operating temperature. In this work, a porous filled heat exchanger has been numerically modeled to investigate the cooling effectiveness and temperature distribution on the base of the heat exchanger subjected to high heat flux leaving these devices. The effects of different nanofluid coolants (0.75% double walled carbon nanotube in water (DWCNT), 1% alumina in water, and 1% diamond in 20:80 ethylene glycol/water), porous materials (copper and annealed pyrolytic graphite (APG)), and porosity values are investigated. The coolant enters from an inlet channel normal to the base, moves through the porous field, and then leaves the heat exchanger through two opposite exit channels parallel to the base. The study is performed for two and three dimensional geometries in which two different designs are studied for 3D cases. One of the designs has a rectangular cross sectional inlet channel (along transverse direction) and the other design has square one. The results indicate that utilizing APG porous matrix, for all studied coolants of pure water and water based nano fluidics, improves substantially the cooling of the base of the heat exchanger in 2D and 3D with rectangular inlet. The results also show that utilizing carbon nanofluids (DWCNT) as coolant for high porosity structures, in both copper and APG porous matrices, improves cooling efficiency and temperature uniformity over the base, for all 2D and 3D cases. The effect of inlet channel geometry, square and rectangular, is also investigated for either similar velocity or similar mass flow rate at the inlet channel entrances.

The need for higher turbine efficiency has been constantly pushing the turbine inlet temperatures to elevated levels. Hot gas path temperatures are much higher than the typical blade material yield temperature. Efficient internal cooling technologies are required for safe operation of gas turbine. Several internal cooling technologies have been developed in order to enhance the heat transfer from relatively hotter walls of turbine blade. For mid-chord region of turbine blade, rib turbulators are typically installed in multi-pass channels. Rib turbulators trip the boundary layer, induce secondary flows which enhance near wall shear as well as enhance turbulent mixing when they interact with surrounding walls. Research has been carried out on several aspects of rib turbulated passages in order to achieve higher thermal hydraulic performance. Generally, rib turbulators are installed on two opposite walls of serpentine passages in order to enhance heat transfer from both pressure and suction sides of blade through coolant flowing through complicated paths. Typical arrangement of rib turbulators were parallel to each other or having some offset from each other. In the present study, an attempt has been made to arrange 45° angled ribs in a way that they form a Criss-Cross pattern. Two ribbed configurations with Criss-Cross pattern - Inline and staggered, have been studied where the baseline case was smooth duct with no rib turbulators. The effective rib-pitch-to-rib-height ratio (p/e) was 8.6 and rib-height-to-channel-hydraulic diameter ratio (e/d h ) was 0.1. The channel had a total length of 20 hydraulic diameters and the rib turbulators were installed at a distance of six hydraulic diameters from the inlet of the test section to allow flow development. Detailed heat transfer coefficients were measured using transient liquid crystal thermography employing 1D semi-infinite conduction model. Globally averaged Nusselt numbers are calculated from the detailed measurements and thermal hydraulic performance of configurations have been reported with respect to Reynolds number. The aim of this study was to develop a cooling configuration which has higher thermal-hydraulic performance compared to other traditional rib configurations. It has been found that the heat transfer characteristics of the inline and staggered configurations were similar to each other and ranged between three times D-B correlation to 2.7 times, for Reynolds number ranging from 30000 to 60000. Inline configuration had relatively lower frictional losses, however the thermal hydraulic performances of both the configurations were similar.

Generally, a part of transporting liquids are used as the coolant to chill down the transfer line. Minimizing the line chill-down time and the consumption of the cryogenic propellant during the line chill-down is a mainly concerned issue. In this study, the cryogenic line chill-down experiments are conducted on a 12.7 mm outer diameter, 1.25 mm wall thickness and 7 m long stainless steel horizontal pipe with liquid nitrogen (LN 2 ) injection. The pipe is vacuum jacketed to reduce the heat inleak from room temperature to the cryogenic liquid. The temperature and the pressure profiles of the chill-down line are obtained at the location 6 meters away from the pipe inlet under various mass flow rates. The history of the transient temperature, the pressure and the mass flow rate during the line chill-down process are monitored for various cases. The relationship between the line chill-down time and the mass flow rate is analyzed and presented for one representative pipe line geometry.

In the present study, a multi-variable comparative study of the effect of microchannel heat sink configurations on their thermal performance is conducted by numerically simulating three-dimensional fluid flow and heat transfer in multiple microchannel heat sink configurations. Thermal analysis is performed to investigate a novel wavy-tapered channel configuration of microchannel heat sinks with directionally alternating coolant flow for high-end electronics cooling. Simulations were conducted at different tapering and aspect ratios, focusing on how effectively previously proven geometric enhancements combine with one another in novel ways. Results confirmed the superiority of wavy channels over straight channels due to the development of the secondary flow (Dean Vortices), which enhance the advection mixing and consequently the overall heat sink thermal performance. Moreover, width-tapering of the wavy channel showed improved channel performance in terms of thermal resistance compared to untapered wavy channels. Almost 10% improvement in thermal resistance is obtained with width tapering. Also, the thermal performance showed a strong dependency on channel aspect ratio. Overall performance suggests that optimum tapering and aspect ratio conditions exist. The numerical investigations are then extended to novel heat sink design includes wavy tapered microchannels with directionally alternating flow to improve heat sink thermal performance. A 15% reduction in thermal resistance and highly improved substrate surface temperature distribution uniformity are obtained using alternating flow compared to corresponding parallel flow channels.

Improved film cooling hole geometries and effect of coolant density on film cooling have been a focus since the 1970s. One of the first studies on modifying hole exit to improve film cooling effectiveness and quantifying coolant density effect was from Prof. Goldstein’s group [1]. This paper traces the development and implementation of hole exit geometries as well as coolant density study from this landmark paper and its impact on future studies of advanced hole geometries under realistic engine-like coolant to mainstream density ratio conditions. This work is not intended to be a comprehensive review of the literature. It is aimed at providing an overview of the influence of ref. [1] over the past 4 decades.

Tripod hole film cooling designs can provide improved cooling with reduced coolant usage. It is essential to determine the impact of strong cooling near hole locations due to increased thermal gradients around the hole region. In this paper, efforts have been made to predict the same using a numerical analysis. Local temperature distribution on the blade surface causes different rates of expansion, resulting in a differential strain, furthering the impact of the numerical study and creating a need to understand the thermo-mechanical behavior of blade design. The thermal stresses that are generated near the film cooling holes are compared for different cooling hole shapes and eventually weigh the thermal advantage of a tripod hole over the cylindrical standard design. Standard k-ε was used to validate the CFD results, ensuring by a fine mesh of 5 million tetrahedrons. Validation includes comparison of the experimental results, with a numerical one where similar blade material and working temperatures are used. Upon validation, CFD was run again at engine temperature conditions with Haynes230 alloy as the blade material. Surface temperature contour enabled structural analysis using a finite element approach. Equivalent stresses (Von-Mises stresses) on the blade emerging from the analysis provided more information about stress dependency on blowing ratio.

Heat removal capacity, coolant pumping pressure drop and surface temperature non-uniformity are three major challenges facing single-phase flow microchannel compact heat exchangers. In this paper multi-objective optimization has been performed to increase heat removal capacity, and decrease pressure drop and temperature non-uniformity in single-flow microchannels. Three-dimensional (3D) 4-floor branching networks have been applied to increase heat removal capacity of a microchannel from silicon substrate (15×15×2 mm). Each floor has four different branching sub-networks with opposite flow direction with respect to the next one. Each branching network has four inlets and one outlet. However, branching patterns of each of these sub-networks could be different from the others. Conjugate heat transfer analysis has been performed by developing a software package which uses quasi-1D thermo-fluid analysis and a 3D steady heat conduction analysis. These two solvers are coupled through their common boundaries representing surfaces of the cooling microchannels. Using quasi-1D solver significantly decreases computing time and its results are in good agreement with 3D Navier-Stokes equations solver for these types of application. The analysis package is capable of generating 3D branching networks with random topologies. 1341 random cooling networks were simulated using this analysis package. Multi-objective optimization using modeFrontier software was performed using response surface approximation and genetic algorithm. Diameters and branching pattern of each sub-network and coolant flow direction on each floor were design variables of multi-objective optimization. Maximizing heat removal capacity, minimizing pressure drop and temperature non-uniformity on the hot surface were three simultaneous objectives of the optimization. Pareto-optimal solutions demonstrate that thermal loads of up to 500 W/cm 2 can be managed with 3D 4-floor microchannel cooling networks.

Thermal and hydrodynamic flow field over a flat surface cooled with a single round inclined film cooling jet and fed by a plenum chamber is numerically investigated using Large Eddy Simulation (LES) and validated with published measurements. The calculations are done for a free stream Reynolds number Re = 16000, density ratio of coolant to free stream fluid ρ j /ρ∞ = 2.0 and blowing ratio BR = ρ j V/ρ ∞ V = 1.0. A short delivery tube with aspect ratio l/D = 1.75 and 35° inclination is considered. The evolution of the Kelvin-Helmholtz (K-H), hairpin and Counter-Rotating Vortex Pair (CVP) vortical structures are discussed to identify their origins. Modal analysis of the complete 3D flow and temperature field is carried out using a Dynamic Mode Decomposition (DMD) technique. The modal frequencies are identified, and the specific modal contribution towards the cooling wall temperature fluctuation is estimated on the film cooling wall. The low and intermediate frequency modes associated with streamwise and hairpin flow structures are found to have largest contribution (in-excess of 28%) towards wall temperature (or cooling effectiveness) fluctuations. The high frequency Kelvin-Helmholtz mode contributes towards initial mixing in the region of film cooling hole away from the wall. The individual modal temperature fluctuations on the wall and their corresponding hydrodynamic flow structures are presented and discussed.

Detailed heat transfer coefficient distributions and pressure drop have been obtained for high aspect ratio (AR = Width/Height = 12.5) ducts with triangular trench enhancement features oriented normal to the coolant flow direction. Numerical and experimental approaches analyze the performance of triangular trenches for six geometrically identical ducts branching from a common plenum. The numerical approach is based on a Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) turbulence model with an unstructured mesh. A transient liquid crystal (TLC) technique is used to experimentally calculate Nu on the ducts surfaces. Reynolds number (Re = 7080, 14800, and 22400, with respect to the duct hydraulic diameter are explored. As Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and TLC results are both detailed, qualitative and quantitative comparisons are made. Experimental results show the closest and furthest ducts from the entrance of the plenum are considerably affected, as recirculation zones develop which partially choke the inlet the respective ducts. Results from the experiments are compared to CFD predictions from Duct 4. In addition, the experimental data are recalculated with the maximum bias in TLC temperature to indicate an improved matching between CFD and experimental methods to demonstrate that CFD captures the wall heat transfer coefficient trends similar to experimental results. The triangular trenches enhance heat transfer in the ducts two-fold compared to smooth wall Dittus-Boelter Nusselt number correlation for flow in tubes.

Film cooling is crucial in the field of gas turbines to protect the blade surfaces from the hot combustion gases. Several hole geometries have been studied in the past in an effort to optimize the cooling effectiveness of the holes while maintaining the structural integrity of the blade and low manufacturing costs. To understand the cooling effectiveness of the various hole geometries, the flow structures that develop as the coolant jet interacts with the hot mainstream must be understood. The present paper compares the results obtained from 2D Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) measurements with CFD predictions using standard Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) models with a commercially available code. The study is conducted for flat plate film cooling via conventional cylindrical holes, shaped holes (10° flare/laidback), and a tripod anti-vortex hole (AV) design. A constant blowing ratio (BR) of 0.5 was used for all the experiments, except for an additional measurement for the AV design at a BR of 1.0. Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) calculations were made with a standard k-epsilon model and compared to PIV results. The results show the counter-rotating vortices developing for cylindrical and shaped holes up to 5D and 3D respectively from the hole exit. AV holes showed no vortex formation, further supporting its higher cooling performance. Moreover, the present results indicate no separation of the coolant jet for AV or shaped holes as expected, while cylindrical holes displayed a small separation with a vertical extent of ∼0.1D. The CFD model was able to capture the main structures of the flow, but further efforts will concentrate in improving the representation of the flow normal to the flat plate surface.