Reference: CES 13364

To appear in: Chemical Engineering Science

Received Date: 22 July 2016

Revised Date: 8 November 2016
Accepted Date: 9 January 2017

Please cite this article as: V. Kumar, Vikash, K.D.P. Nigam, Multiphase Fluid Flow and Heat transfer Characteristics
in Microchannels, Chemical Engineering Science (2017), doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ces.2017.01.018

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 Multiphase Fluid Flow and Heat transfer Characteristics in Microchannels

Vimal Kumar,1 Vikash,

Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Uttarakhand, INDIA

K.D.P. Nigam
Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Delhi, INDIA

Abstract

The boiling flow or condensation is widely encountered in many industrial applications for both
cooling as well as heating processes. Compact heat transfer devices, such as micro- heat
exchangers and evaporators, are extensively used for both cooling as well as heating processes
over conventional heat exchangers, such as microelectronic circuits, automobile and aerospace
industries, due to high surface area to volume ratio and heat transfer rates, compactness and easy
thermal control. For better design of micro– or mini– heat exchangers, a detailed specific
knowledge of the multiphase flow and its properties such as the flow pattern during flow boiling,
critical heat flux (CHF) and stable operation are very important. This paper provides a state of art
review on boiling flow in microchannels since year 2000 till date. Flow patterns formed and the
parameters influencing flow pattern transitions, during multiphase heat transfer in micro– or
mini– channels, have been reviewed in detail. The flow regimes and flow pattern maps, and
modeling approaches considered for boiling flow in micro–channels/devices with various
challenges have been discussed. A lot of contradiction between the experimental data has been
observed for the analysis of flow regimes and flow pattern maps. Further, the effect of
hydrodynamics during flow boiling and CHF on heat transfer coefficient has been discussed in
detail. Recently, with the advancement in measurement techniques, the heat transfer
measurement technologies have been synchronized with the visualization techniques, which
helped in understanding the boiling flow physics in micro- and mini- channels. Therefore, an in-
depth understanding of flow patterns and regimes under boiling flow conditions in mini- and
micro- channels can be used to predict the boiling heat transfer mechanism, which can be further
used for developing better heat transfer models for boiling flow. Further, enhancement in heat

1
Corresponding author: Email: vksinfch@iitr.ac.in, vim.singh@gmail.com
transfer coefficient for boiling flow in microchannels, either by using complex microchannel
configurations or nanocoating on the microchannel surface, have received attention recently,
which have been discussed and analyzed in the present review. Both micro– and mini– channels
have number of applications in aerospace, refrigeration and computational systems; therefore
further attention is needed for more robust and precise design.

Keywords: Boiling flow, flow pattern maps, critical heat flux, heat transfer coefficient,
microchannel, minichannels

1. Introduction

Micro scale devices have higher heat transfer rates over conventional heat exchangers due to
high surface area to volume ratio, compactness and provide easy thermal control (Kumar et al.,
2011). Microfluidic heat transfer devices, also referred as compact heat exchangers, are used in
cooling electronic circuits, automobile and aerospace industries, where weight and size are
constraints. There is a considerable discussion on defining microchannel dimensions. For
differentiating between micro- and macro- channels, Kew and Conrwell (1997) used
confinement number (Co = [/(g(l – g))]0.5/de) and Harirchian and Garimella (2010) used
convective confinement number (Ga = Bo0.5  Re) for differentiating between micro- and macro-
channels. For a channel, if the confinement number is less than 0.5 (Kew and Cornwell, 1997)
and convective confinement number less than 160 (Harirchian and Garimella, 2010), it is
referred as microchannel. Mehendale et al. (2000) proposed that the microchannels are the
channels having hydraulic diameter less than or equal to 1 mm ( 1mm). In another study,
Kandlikar and Grande (2003) proposed that the channels having hydraulic diameter varying from
10 m to 200 m are microchannels. In the present paper, a similar methodology proposed by
Mehendale et al. (2000) has been considered for differentiating between micro- and mini-
channels, i.e Dh  1mm. According to Kandlikar (2010 and 2012), the fluid flow behavior and
heat transfer characteristics are mainly affected by the fluid properties, specific operating
conditions and type of flow, instead of channel dimensions. A detailed overview on single phase
fluid hydrodynamics and mixing in microchannels is discussed by Hessel et al. (2008) and
Kumar et al. (2011). The heat transfer phenomenon for single phase fluid flow through
microchannels has been discussed in detail by Kandlikar (2010 and 2012).
Flow boiling and cooling in microchannels have tremendous potential for further development in
number of applications such as, microelectronics, MEMS, aerospace, photonics, etc. Specifically
in space applications miniaturized pump systems and heat pipes are used, where both boiling
flow as well as condensation through microtubes takes place. Recently, an extensive effort has
been made by number of researchers on multiphase heat transfer studies considering both
evaporation as well as condensation. Now-a-days, with the advent of technology, multiphase
heat transfer characteristics are very dominant parameters in compact heat exchangers in
electronic devices and fuel cells, phase change heat sink systems and also in fuel flow in modern
fuel injectors (or nozzle). In the case of single fluid flow through microchannels the heat transfer
mechanism/behavior seems to be well understood (Kandlikar, 2010 and 2012). However for
boiling flow or condensation through microchannels it is still developing. In microchanels,
during boiling flow/condensation, the capillary forces become stronger, while buoyancy forces
are weekend. Therefore, the observations available for boiling flow through macrochannels are
not generally applicable to the microchannels. For better design of mini- and micro– heat
exchangers, a detailed specific knowledge of the multiphase flow and its properties such as the
flow pattern during flow boiling, CHF and stable operation are very important.

In the present paper the experimental data for boiling as well as condensation in microchannels
have been examined. Attention has been given to the heat transfer mechanism for multiphase
fluids flow through microscale devices. The present article consists of the following: in Section 2
the development in the field of boiling as well as condensation in microchannels have been
discussed in terms of research article publications. Both boiling flow patterns and regimes in
microchannels have been discussed in Section 3. In Section 4, modeling approaches used for
boiling flow in microscale devices has been discussed.

2. State of the Art Review

Micro-structured heat transfer devices have high potential towards widespread applications,
especially dealing with multiphase heat transfer. In this section an analysis is carried out to
understand the present and future trends of micro–heat transfer devices or micro–heat
exchangers. The rise and propagation of appearances of multiphase micro–heat transfer devices
in peer reviewed journals has been quantified from the year 2000–2016.
For the analysis of research articles, only peer reviewed research articles published in the various
international journals have been considered. Figure 1 shows all publications in the field of
boiling flow in micro–heat exchangers, including books, book chapters, conference papers,
review articles and research articles. Note that quite a number of publications identified as
review articles, conference proceedings, etc. have been omitted for further analysis of research
article publications. Many publications do not include information about multiphase micro–heat
exchangers; they only mentioned either in the introduction or the main text. Also the research
articles analysis is limited to those journals indicated by ISI Web of Science
(http://apps.isiknowledge.com) and SCOPUS (www.scopus.com), which do not include some
important journals.

Figure 1

The number of research articles published between year 2000 and 2016 on multiphase heat
transfer in microdevices is shown in Figure 2a. A clear increase in the number of article
publications can be seen from the year 2000 onward for multiphase flow heat transfer in
microdevices. The total number of research publications for micro–heat exchangers dealing with
boiling flow increased during the year 2000–2008, stable till 2013 and decreased from the year
2013 onward. The maximum number of publications on boiling flow in micro–heat exchangers is
highest in the year 2011. The countries/territories distribution (Figure 2b) shows that the highest
number of research publications for boiling flow in micro–heat exchangers is from the USA and
followed by China. The leading journals in terms of total number of research publications and
percentage of their own publications for the period of 2000–2016 is reported in Figure 3 for
boiling flow in micro–heat exchangers. The highest number of publications are reported in
International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer and followed by Journal of Heat Transfer.

Figure 2
Figure 3
3. Boiling Flow in Microchannels

For boiling flow in microchannels, flow regime identification is very important for the
calculation of multiphase pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient. The flow regimes and their
transition have been identified visually by number of researchers by analyzing high–speed
images and optical measurement techniques (Triplett et al., 1999; Chen et al., 2004; Kandlikar,
2004; Revellin et al., 2006; Revellin and Thome, 2007; Ali et al., 2013; Szczukiewicz et al.,
2013a and 2013b; Zhang et al., 2016). Several researchers reported a good agreement for
prediction of transition between different flow regimes. However, there was disagreement in few
studies due to the interpretations of visual data, different selection criterion of transition and
characterization of micro-channel sizes. Before analyzing the boiling flow in microchannels, the
transition from macro- to micro- scale needs to be understood, though the transition is not well
defined yet. In micro- and mini- channels different dimensionless numbers have been
used/proposed (Etvos number, Weber number both based on vapor and liquid, Reynolds number
both based on vapor and liquid, Capillary number, Boiling number, Kandlikar number 1 and 2)
for defining flow patterns, flow pattern maps and heat transfer behaviour. Figure 4 shows the
range of different dimensionless numbers for boiling flow in both micro- and mini- channels.
The horizontal line on each vertical line represents the hydraulic diameter as 1 mm, which is the
criterion adopted in the present paper for differentiating between micro- and macro- scales.

Figure 4

Kandlikar (2001) recommended that the channels with hydraulic diameter ranging from 50 m to
600 m are microchannels, 600 m to 3 mm are mini-channels and  3 mm are macrochannels.
However, Thome (2004) reported that the transition from macro- to micro- cannot be taken
based on the channel size as there are many other parameters, which influence the flow
hydrodynamics with decrease in channel diameter. Further, it was found that the Kandlikar
(2004) did not consider the fluid properties in defining the criterion. Baldassari and Marengo
(2013) suggested that there is no sharp distinction between micro- and macro- scale regimes,
since the fundamental physical phenomena are simply similar; there is only difference in the
channel size. For distinguishing between micro and macro scale Kew and Cornwell (1997)
reported a threshold value of confinement number (Co) as 0.5 for microscale flows. Li and
Whang (2003) used the criterion of capillary length for distinguishing between the micro- and
macro- flow regimes. Cheng and Wu (2006) classified the threshold between the micro- and
macro- flow regimes based on the boiling number: Bo < 0.05 - microchannels, 0.05 < Bo < 3 -
mesochannel, and Bo > 3 - macrochannel. On the basis of flow pattern map, Ullmann and
Brauner (2007) suggested a threshold value for Etvos number (Eo) as 1.6 for macro- to micro-
scale. Harirchian and Garimella (2010) defined a convective confinement number (Ga =
Bo0.5ReLO) and reported that the threshold value of Ga as 160 for macro- to micro- scale.
Baldassari and Marengo (2013) compiled the experimental data for various test fluids (deionized
water, FC-72, H2O, HCFC123, R11, R113, R123, R124, R134a, R141b, R236fa, R245fa) in both
micro- and mini channels (100 m  Dh  4.2 mm) and suggested that the criterion proposed by
Ullmann and Brauner (2007) is more reasonable as compared to other criteria. It was also
concluded that macro- to micro- threshold is associated with bubble confinement, due to
reduction in pressure, more detailed experimental data are required to define a boundary between
macro- to micro- scale, with consideration of bubble confinement and properties of the test
fluids.

3.1 Flow Patterns for Boiling Flow in Micro- and Mini- Channels

The flow patterns have been studied by a number of researchers using high speed visualization
for boiling flow in mini- and micro- channels (Harirchian and Garimella, 2009; Martin-Callizo et
al., 2010; Schilder et al., 2010; Ali et al., 2013; Zhang et al., 2016). For having a better
understanding of flow patterns, Kandlikar (2002) reported the significance of surface tension for
slug and liquid rings development in the microchannels. Thome et al. (2004) reported that the
bubble frequency and their dimensions, liquid slugs and the liquid film thickness strongly
influence the heat transfer measurements. In an another study by Thome et al. (2006) it was
observed that in microchannels capillary flow limits the boiling flow at very low mass flux. Also,
there was no stratified flow due to surface tension dominance over gravity. Therefore, the change
in the inclination or tube orientation does not influence the flow patterns for boiling flow in
microchannels. A two laser/two diode optical technique was used by Revellin et al. (2006) for
the characterization of flow patterns, transitions and also the measurement of bubble frequency,
velocity and the vapor bubbles length in and the exit of micro-evaporators. The optical
measurement technique is quantitative approach and therefore more accurate in determining the
flow patterns in the microscale devices. It was reported that, at a constant mass flux, with an
increase in heat flux (q") and mass fraction (x) the bubble frequency increases until it reaches a
peak. After reaching the peak the bubble frequency start decreasing sharply, due to the
coalescence of smaller bubbles into long bubbles, and then slowly, due to the coalescence of
long bubbles into even longer, until it reaches zero, i.e. annular flow.
In mini- and micro- channels, the subcooled boiling flow significantly influences the bubble
dynamics and bubble size (Kandlikar et al., 1997; Yin et al., 2000; Chang et al., 2002; Chen et
al., 2009; Zhuan et al., 2011). Chang et al. (2002) reported the bubble coalescence in a vertical
mini-channel (dh = 4.44 mm). In a horizontal narrow annular duct, Chen et al. (2009) studied the
bubble frequency and mean bubble departure diameter in the subcooled flow boiling regime for
R–407C (Figure 5). It was reported that the subcooled flow boiling initiates at higher wall heat
flux and wall superheat. Further, at lower liquid subcooling the bubble size was bigger, which
may be due to bubble coalescence and the weaker vapor condensation at a lower Tsub. Further,
the number of active nucleation sites and the bubble departure frequency reduced with an
increase in subcooled flow boiling. Zhuan et al. (2011) numerically studied the bubble growth
mechanism, condensation process and the bubble collapse in subcooled boiling flow in a
microchannel. The bubble growth and coalescence are significantly influenced by degree of
subcooling.

Figure 5

In microchannels, for a wide range of heat and mass fluxes the annular flow is observed rarely in
the subcooled flow regime, however in saturated boiling flow regime slug and annular flows are
frequently observed. Figure 6 shows the typical patterns for R134a in 1.1 mm internal diameter
tube for a mass flux of 200 kg/m2.s and at a pressure of 8 bar (Shiferaw et al., 2009). Revellin
and Thome (2007) used a high definition digital video camera for the prediction of flow patterns
for R-134a flow in a microchannel at a mass flux of 500 kg/m2.s, Tsub = 3 oC and Tsat = 30 oC
having 0.5 mm and 70.70 mm hydraulic diameter and length, respectively. Figure 7 shows the
different Flow regimes observed at different mass fractions. It can be seen that at x = 4% and
19% there was a transition from bubbly to slug flow regime and slug to semi-annular flow
regimes, respectively. Harirchian and Garimella (2009) summarized the boiling flow patterns at
different heat and mass fluxes and channel sizes for perfluorinated dielectric liquid (FC–77)
(Figure 8). It was found that the flow patterns were similar for microchannels with width
100 μm- and 250 μm, and was different from the microchannels having width 400 μm and
higher; though microchannels having higher width have similar flow patterns. The slug flow is
replaced by bubbly flow and intermittent churn/annular flow is replaced by intermittent
churn/wispy-annular flow with an increase in channel size. In each microchannel, the bubbles
become smaller and more elongated in the bubbly region with an increase in mass flux, which
resulted into a decrease in liquid layer thickness in the wispy-annular and annular regimes.
Figure 9 shows the change in flow patterns at different heat and mass fluxes, reported by
Soupremanien et al. (2011). It can be seen that the churn and churn/annular regime are the
dominant flow patterns at G = 200 kg/m2.s. The plug flow regime was the dominant flow
patterns at higher mass fluxes. At higher mass fluxes, in minichannel C1, churn flow regime is
more dominant, while in the case of minichannel C2, the annular flow regime becomes more
dominant. Further, in the minichannel C1, dryout was reported before the annular flow at higher
mass flux.
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8
Figure 9

Ali et al. (2013) reported the flow patterns for boiling flow in the microchannels (Dh = 0.781mm)
for mass and heat fluxes varying from 100 to 5400 kg/m2.s and 11 to 510 kW/m2, respectively,
for saturation temperatures of 25 and 30 oC (psat = 6.65 and 7.70 bar and pr = 0.163 and 0.189).
The microchannel has a heated length of 191mm, and was made of fused silica with indium-tin-
oxide (ITO) coating on the outer surface. The smaller channel dimensions resulted into the
confinement effects and also restricted the bubble growth. This resulted into the early transition
from the confined bubbly to the elongated bubble flow pattern and hence an early transition to
the slug and annular flow (i.e., at low vapor fractions) regimes. It was reported that with an
increase in heat and mass flux bubble frequency increases and hence increase in the coalescence
rate. Further, there was a decrease in bubble diameter for an increase in mass flux. Recently,
Zhang et al. (2016) studied the boiling flow characteristics for deionized water in an
interconnected microchannel net (IMN) and compared their findings with the rectangular
microchannels (RMC). The heat transfer characteristics were studied over a wide range of heat
and mass fluxes (G = 100, 180 and 250 kg.m-2s-1). For both configurations, for increase in vapor
quality there was boiling mechanism transition from nucleate to convective boiling at G = 180
kg.m-2.s-1 (IMN) and 250 kg.m-2.s-1 (RMC), which was accompanied by the change in flow
patterns from the bubbly to annular flows. However, this phenomena was not observed at G =
100 kg.m-2.s-1 (Figure 10).

For enhancing heat transfer in microchannels Xu and Xu (2012) reported the flow patterns for
boiling flow of both pure water and nanofluids (2% Al2O3 nanoparticles in water) in a
microchannel (Figure 11). From Figure 11 it can be seen that nanofluids resulted into the
miniaturized bubbles in the microchannel. Initially there were elongated bubbles however with
time isolated miniature bubbles occupied the channel, which may be due to the week surface
tension forces acting on the bubble. They also linked the modeled flow patterns to the visualized
flow patterns. Recently, Thiangtham et al. (2016) reported the flow patterns in a multi-
microchannel heat sink with hydraulic diameter of 421 μm for R134a. It was observed that the
flow patterns are significantly influenced by heat flux and saturation temperature. At low heat
fluxes bubbly and slug flow were observed, while at high heat fluxes wavy annular and annular
flow patterns were reported (Figure 12). Markal et al. (2016) observedthe elongated bubble and
annular flow patterns in a silicon microchannel of 150 m hydraulic diameter. It was also
reported that the churn or mist flow patterns may appear, depending on the values of heat and
mass fluxes and the interaction between the neighboring channels. The flow patterns in
microchannels, observed by various researchers, have been summarized in Table 1.

Figure 10
Figure 11
Figure 12
Table 1
3.2 Flow Pattern Maps

For accurate predictions of heat transfer behavior or heat transfer coefficient for boiling flow in
microchannels, flow pattern maps have been developed at different operating conditions with
different microchannels dimensions. Chen et al. (2006) experimentally developed the flow
pattern map and compared it with the flow pattern maps available in the literature, which were
not in agreement. Therefore, the boundaries between the flow regimes were identified using
Weber number (We) including the effect of channel diameter. Based on the flow patterns,
Revellin and Thome (2007a) developed flow pattern maps (Figure 13). Earlier annular flow can
be seen from Figure 13 at higher mass flux values, however annular flow was not observed at
vapor qualities of the onset of the CHF. There was no or very less existence of bubbly flow at
mass fluxes higher than the 1000 kg/m2.s. The transition of bubbly flow patterns was controlled
by the coalescence rate.
According to Revellin and Thome (2007b), coalescence rate significantly influences the flow
pattern transition. They developed new flow map for boiling flow in microchannels (Figure 14)
as their data were not comparable with the existing flow maps for macrochannels (working
fluid as refrigerants) and microchannels (working fluid as airwater system). Revellin and
Thome (2007b) classified the flow regimes using their diabatic map into four different regimes:
(a) isolated bubble regime (IB), (b) coalescing bubble regime (CB), annular regime (A), and
post-dryout regime (PD). In the isolated bubble regime the bubble generation rate is much larger
than the bubble coalescence rate, which is just reverse of the coalescing bubble regime. Further,
the CB regime exists up to the end of the coalescence process. The mass fraction (x) at the onset
of CHF limits the annular flow regime. The post-dryout (PD) regime refers to the flow regime
after passing through CHF at critical vapor quality. In Figure 14, data below the horizontal black
line represent the region where flow instabilities are important. Revellin and Thome (2007) also
reported the methodology for transition prediction from one regime to another regime, which are
also shown in Figure 14. In Figure 14 the working fluid was considered as R134a, and its
O
properties were calculated, for the evaluation of mass fraction (x), at 30 C in terms of
dimensionless number (Bo, ReL, WeL and WeV). It was also reported that the location of the
transition between IB/CB is not a function of channel diameter, however it depends on q".
Further, q" does not influence the transition from CB to A. Revellin et al. (2008) modified the
diabatic flow map using an approach proposed by Agostini et al. (2008), i.e. an elongated bubble
velocity model. According to the model, the elongated bubble move faster with increase in their
length.

Figure 13
Figure 14

Ong and Thome (2009) experimentally observed the flow pattern maps for R134a, R236fa and
R245fa in a 1.030 mm minichannel. For R134a, there was good agreement for different flow
regimes and their transitions with the flow map of Revellin and Thome (2007b). However, in the
case of R236fa and R245fa the transition from CB to A was not predicted well. Therefore, Ong
and Thome (2009) modified the expressions for transition from CB to A and IB to CB, by
accounting the effect of reduced pressure. The newly proposed expressions showed fairly well
comparison for all the refrigerants, channel dimensions and reduced pressures considered
(Figure 15).

Figure 15

For boiling flow of FC-77 in microchannels, Harirchian and Garimella (2010) developed a
comprehensive flow pattern map for the identification of transition between the flow regimes,
over a wide range of heat and mass fluxes and channel dimensions. The flow regime map was
developed by considering dimensionless numbers as ordinates, i.e. between Bi.Re and
Bo0.5/ReLO, to show four different flow regimes as follows: slug, confined annular, bubbly and
alternating churn/annular/wispy-annular flow (Figure 16a). The flow pattern map was further
modified by including the effect of heated length of microchannels for boiling flow in
microchannels (Harirchian and Garimella, 2012). The modified flow regime map (Figure 16b)
was having phase change number and the product of dimensioless numbers as ordinates, i.e. N pch
and Bo0.5/ReLO. The modified flow regime map also helps in the prediction of distance from the
inlet of the microchannels where transition in different flow regime occur.

Figure 16
Ali et al. (2013) reported the flow pattern map with transition lines in a microchannel with
Dh = 0.781 mm at Tsat = 25 °C and inlet sub cooling of 2 °C (Figure 17), and compared their
findings with the experimental data of Chen et al. (2004) and Revellin and Thome (2007). Chen
et al. (2004) reported the transition lines for boiling flow of R134a in a circular test section (Dh =
1.10 mm) at 6 and 10 bar pressures. Though, Revellin and Thome (2007) used same working
fluid, R134a, however channel dimension (circular test section of 0.5 mm hydraulic diameter)
and other operating conditions were different (Tsat = 30 oC and T = 3 oC). Therefore, the
experimental measurements of Ali et al. (2013) were not in agreement with the flow regimes
reported by Chen et al. (2004) and Revellin and Thome (2007).

Figure 17

Szczukiewicz et al. (2013a) used a high speed IR camera for developing flow pattern maps in a
micro-evaporator with 67 microchannels of 100  100 m2 cross-section for R245fa, R236fa and
R1234ze(E) as working fluids. It was reported that in the isolated bubble (IB) regime the heat
transfer coefficient increases, achieves a local maximum and then start decreasing in the
coalescing bubble (CB) regime. The heat transfer increases again in annular flow (AF) regime,
due to the coalescence of all bubbles and a ring like structure was formed within the
microchannel with vapor in the core region. These observations suggested that for boiling flow
in microchannels the flow patterns are important for understanding the heat transfer mechanism.
In CB regime, the decrease in heat transfer coefficient was due to the onset of cyclical dryout,
with an increase in vapor quality. In AF regime, convective boiling dominate the heat transfer.

Liu and Pan (2016) directly measured the fluid temperature and transient two-phase flow pattern
in micro-scale for ethanol at a mass flux of 20.3 kg/m2s and for heat flux ranging from 3.1 to
244.1 kW/m2 using an non-intrusive method (Figure 18). It was reported that in the bubblyslug
flow region the heat transfer coefficient increases with an increase in heat flux in both
streamwise as well as axial directions. However, in the annular flow region with an increase in
heat flux the heat transfer coefficient decreased in the axial direction. The experimental values of
local heat transfer coefficient were in good agreement with empirical correlations available in the
literature.

Figure 18
In many applications, such as aerospace and refrigeration, boiling flow pressure drop is an
important parameter as it is used to estimate the required pumping power and heat dissipation
capacity. In an oxygen–free copper microchannel, which was comprised of 21 parallel channels
with each having 231  713 m2 cross-section, Qu and Mudawar (2003) experimentally studied
the pressure drop under boiling flow conditions. The momentum pressure drop was evaluated
using the void fraction model (Zivi, 1964). A new empirical correlation was proposed by
modifying Chisholm parameter in terms of microchannel diameter and mass flux, which was in
good agreement with their experimental data, i.e. 12.4%. Lee and Mudawar (2005) developed
a new correlation for boiling flow pressure drop for R134a by considering the effect of liquid
viscosity and surface tension in the two-phase pressure drop multiplier, and compared with their
experimental data. The microchannels were made of copper blocks with 231 μm
width and 713 μm depth. The inlet pressure, mass velocity, vapor quality, and heat fluxes were
varied from 1.44–6.60 bar, 127–654 kg/m2 s, 0.001–0.25, 0.49–superheat, and 31.6–93.8 W/cm2,
respectively. The proposed correlation was in excellent agreement with the experimental data.
The maximum deviation between the correlation and the experimental data was in the low mass
and heat fluxes region where the measurement uncertainty for both heat loss and flow rate was
greatest. Lee and Garimella (2008) developed a new correlation for saturated boiling flow
pressure drop by considering the effect of mass flux and channel diameter. The developed
correlation was in good agreement with the experimental data, i.e.  11.4%. Kim and Mudawar
(2013) developed a correlation for boiling flow pressure drop for both micro– and mini–
channels for different working fluids, channel dimensions and wide range of parameters. A total
of 2378 data points were taken from various sources, which include 9 working fluids (ammonia,
CO2, R12, R134a, R22, R245fa, R410A, FC-72, and water), mass fluxes varying from 33 to
2738 kg/m2.s and hydraulic diameters varying from 0.349 to 5.35 mm. The Chisholm parameter
was modified in the correlation using six different dimensionless numbers: Reynolds number
(Re), superficial liquid Reynolds number (Rel), liquid-only Reynolds number (Relo), superficial
vapor Reynolds number (Rev), vapor-only Reynolds number (Revo), Suratman number (Su), and
Weber number (We).

Recently, Lee and Mudawar (2016) reported the boiling characteristics for R-134a in two
different large micro-channel heat exchangers (Crew H/X and Avionics H/X), having identical
cross-sections (1  1 mm2). The heat transfer mechanism was studied over a wide range of mass
velocities (152.90–530.72 kg/m2.s) and heat fluxes (8072.93–48,437.60 W/m2). At low vapor
qualities slug flow was reported while at high vapor qualities annular flow was observed, which
were dominated by nucleate and convective boiling, respectively. Figure 19 shows the
dominant heat transfer mechanisms along the micro-channel length for different vapor qualities.
At low vapor qualities (i.e. xe < 0.36) bubbly and slug flow patterns were observed (Figure 19a).
The heat transfer is dominated by nucleate boiling with high heat transfer coefficients. The
increase in vapor quality resulted into the bubble growth and coalescence, and hence bubbly to
slug flow patterns. Figure 19a also shows that in the slug flow regime the nucleate boiling was
due to the bubble nucleation in the liquid slugs and evaporation of the thin film surrounding the
elongated bubbles. In the low vapor quality regions, further increase in the vapor qualities
resulted into elongation of the bubbles. For vapor qualities varying from 0.36 to 0.5 annular and
wavy annular flow patterns were reported, and the convective boiling dominates the heat transfer
mechanism (Figure 19a). A slight increase in heat transfer coefficient was due to the decrease in
film thickness due to evaporation. At high vapor quality (i.e., 0.50 < x < 0.74) flow patterns were
annular flow, and the heat transfer was due to both convective and thin film evaporation.
However, with an increase in flow direction incipient dryout was reported, and the channel wall
was exposed to the vapor core (Figure 19a).

Figure 19

4. Boiling Flow Heat Transfer Coefficient

Tuckerman and Pease (1981) were the first who studied the heat transfer mechanism for boiling
flow in microchannels. Since then, both experimentally as well as numerically, a number of
researchers reported the heat transfer coefficient for boiling flow in microchannels (Moriyama et
al., 1992; Bowers and Mudawar, 1994; Jiang et al., 1999; Hetsroni et al., 2000; Kandlikar et al.,
2001). The major development for multiphase heat transfer in microchannels, in understanding
the flow patterns and heat transfer mechanism is from the year 2000 onward (Kandlikar, 2002;
Steinke and Kandlikar, 2004; Bergles and Kandlikar, 2005; Jacobi and Thmoe, 2002; Srizawa et
al., 2002; Hetsroni et al., 2002; Yen et al., 2003; Kandlikar, 2003, 2004; Steinke and Kandlikar,
2004; Kosar and Peles, 2006; Kim and Mudawar, 2013; Szczukiewicz et al., 2012 and 2013; Lee
and Mudawar, 2016). Kandlikar (2012) have summarized the different stages in the development
of understanding the flow patterns and heat transfer mechanisms in microchannels.

Moriyama et al. (1992) studied the boiling flow characteristics using R-113 refrigerant as a
working fluid in a rectangular microchannels with 35 m and 110 m height and 30 mm width.
The boiling flow pressure drop was correlated with the two-phase correlations available in the
literature. The boiling flow heat transfer coefficient was found to be 3–20 times higher as
compared to the single-phase heat transfer coefficient. Also an analytical model was developed
for liquid film on microchannel surface with vapor in the core region, and for liquid slugs which
were separated with vapor bubbles. A good agreement was reported between model predictions
and the experimental data. It was also concluded that capillary number is an important
dimensionless group in analyzing the boiling flow in microchannels. Figure 20a shows the ratio
of two phases (hTP) to single phase (hLO) heat transfer coefficient plotted as a function of quality
(x) for different mass velocities. It can be seen that at x = 0 the heat transfer coefficient increases
with vapor quality, at mid-quality region it gets level off, and at higher quality it decreases
rapidly and approaches towards dry-out conditions. It can be seen from Figure 20b that the heat
flux increases, and hence heat transfer coefficient, with an increase in mass flux at a constant
value of Tsat. Figure 20b also includes the pool boiling correlation of Armstrong (1966) (i.e.
Tsat = 0.602q0.293 or h = 1.66q0.707). These findings showed the combined effect of pool and
flow boiling characteristics. Further, the observations on the influence of mass flux on the heat
transfer and hence dominance of nucleate boiling were later experimentally confirmed by the
number of researchers for water and different refrigerants in mini- and micro- channels
(Kandlikar, 2002; Watel, 2003; Bergles et al., 2003; Thome, 2004). Similar trends for heat
transfer have been reported in the literature, i.e. at low vapor qualities there is a strong decrease
in heat transfer with an increase in vapor quality and mixed trends at mid-vapor qualities
(Bowers and Mudawar, 1994; Jiang et al., 1999; Hetsroni et al., 2000; Hetsroni et al., 2003; Yen
et al., 2003; Steinke and Kandlikar, 2004; Kosar et al., 2005; Hetsroni et al., 2004; Qu and
Mudawar, 2004).

Figure 20
In a minichannel, Peng and Wang (1993) studied the subcooled flow boiling of water, and
reported that subcooling and the velocity have less influence in the fully developed boiling
region. Though nucleate boiling was reported, however they did not observed bubbles. Bowers
and Mudawar (1994) reported CHF and heat transfer characteristics in mini-channels to
understand the boiling flow mechanism over a large range of hydraulic diameters. In a silicon
based microchannels (Dh < 200 m), Jiang et al. (1999) reported that the flow velocity does not
influence the heat transfer and observed nucleate boiling in the microchannel. Hetsroni et al.
(2000) observed single phase flow and annular flow patterns in a microchannels (Dh varying
from 103–129) based on silicon chips. In another study, Hetsroni et al. (2003) experimentally
studied the adiabatic and diabatic flows and reported the significance of nucleation and bubble
growth in diabatic flows. In adiabatic flows, the rapid flow oscillations and flow instabilities
were found to be negligible. In single microtubes, Yen et al. (2003) reported that the local heat
transfer coefficient decreases with an increase in vapor quality (x), heat (q”) and mass (G) fluxes.
It was also reported that the heat transfer mechanism was nucleate boiling. In parallel
microchannels based on silicon, Steinke and Kandlikar (2004) studied the behavior of heat
transfer coefficient as a function of vapor quality and heat and mass fluxes. It was reported that
with an increase in vapor quality the heat transfer coefficient decreases along the length of
microchannels.
Zhang et al. (2009) used a laser extinction method for the measurement of the liquid film
thickness in a microchannel. It was reported that the film thickness increases with an increase in
interface velocity. The film thickness was reported as 10 m and 20 m for water and ethanol,
respectively, for interface velocities varying from 3–5 m/s. Higher interface velocities results
into the higher film thickness.
For boiling flow in microchannels, it has been observed that the dominating heat transfer
mechanism is nucleate boiling, and it is mainly affected by the heat flux. Further, the heat
transfer correlations used for pool boiling (Armstrong, 1966; Cooper, 1984) predicted the heat
transfer behavior in microchannels with fairly good agreement (Bertsch et al., 2008; Moriyama
et al., 1992; Qu and Mudawar, 2003). Kandlikar (2010) and Kandlikar et al. (2005) reported the
heat transfer similarity between both pool boiling and boiling flow in microchannels. Bao et al.
(2000) experimentally reported the heat transfer coefficient at different vapor qualities and heat
and mass fluxes, including the subcooled boiling data. It was found that the heat transfer
coefficient increases rapidly for lower vapor qualities and for mid-vapor qualities does not
change for a change in mass flux (Figures 21).

Figure 21

Liu and Garimella (2007) developed a correlation for heat transfer coefficient and compared it
with the correlations available in the literature. Figure 22 show the variation of heat transfer
coefficient for saturated boiling heat transfer, and both subcooled and saturated boiling heat
transfer with wall heat flux. A good comparison was reported with their own data however, a
great deviation was observed in comparison with the correlations available in the literature. It
was reported that the correlation of Shah (1982) predicts well the heat transfer coefficient for
boiling flow in the subcooled boiling regime, while for saturated boiling regime new correlations
were developed by modifying the enhancement (F) and suppression (S), factors.
Figure 22
Kim and Mudwar (2013) compiled the experimental data ( 10000) for boiling flow in mini- and
micro-channels from 31 sources considering pre-dryout database, consists of 18 working fluids,
Dh varying from of 0.19–6.5 mm, mass velocities of 19–1608 kg/m2 s, Reliq from 57 to 49,820,
vapor qualities from 0 to 1, and reduced pressures (pr) from 0.005 to 0.69. A new generalized
correlation was proposed by considering the contributions of nucleate and convective boiling
(Table 2). A fairly good agreement was reported between the various databases and the newly
proposed correlation for all working fluids and ranges of the parameters considered. The
correlation was also applied to boiling flow in single- and multi- microchannel configurations,
and it showed a good agreement with the experiment data. In the present work the empirical
correlations for pressure drop and heat transfer of Kim and Mudawar (2013a and 2013b) were
revisited and comparison was made with the existing correlations and respective experimental
datasets. It was found that the correlations of Kim and Mudawar (2013a and 2013b) still give
better results for the considered set of experiments with good accuracy for mini-channels.
However, for channels with hydraulic diameter less than 1 mm the correlations of Kim and
Mudawar (2013a and 2013b) do not predict the pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient with
accuracy.
Kuznetsov and Shamirzaev (2016) studied the pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient in a
copper microchannel heat sink containing 21 microchannels with 335 × 930 µm2 crosssection
for R134a, over a wide range of operating parameters, such as heat and mass fluxes and pressure
from 50 to 500 kW/m2, 200–600 kg/m2.s and 6–16 bar, respectively. It was reported that with an
increase in heat flux both pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient increases. Further, the heat
transfer is dominated by the nucleate boiling. Also a new model was proposed for boiling flow
heat transfer, considering nucleate boiling suppression and liquid film evaporation, and
compared it with their experiment data and correlations of Thome et al. (2004) and Kandlikar
(2010).
Azzolin et al. (2016) extended the available heat transfer correlations for pure fluid boiling in
microchannels to the boiling of an azeotropic mixture R32/R1234ze(E) (0.5/0.5 by mass
composition). The experiments were carried out in a 0.96-mm horizontal microchannel, with
mass velocity, vapor quality and heat flux varying from 300 and 600 kg.m−2.s−1, 0.1 and 0.7 and
27 and 165 kW.m−2, respectively (Figure 12 and 21). The proposed correlation was compared
with five different correlations for boiling flow of pure fluids in mini- and micro- channels. It
was found that the correlations for boiling flow of pure fluids over-predict the heat transfer
coefficients for azeotropic mixtures, which may be due to the additional mass transfer resistance.
Therefore, correction factors for the nucleate boiling component (Thome, 1989), Fc, and the
additional mass transfer resistance (Cavallini et al., 1999) was applied in available correlations
for the pure fluids. The newly proposed correlation was in good agreement with the experimental
data and the correlations of Gungor and Winterton (1986) and Thome et al. (2004).

An extensive literature on heat transfer correlations in microchannels showed that though there
are number of correlations, however these correlations show high deviation from the
experimental data and does not predicts the heat transfer coefficient consistently (Ribatski et al.,
2006; Shiferaw et al., 2007; Bertsch et al., 2008; Sun and Mishima, 2009). Lee and Mudawar
(2016) fitted their experimental data, for R134a in microchannels of 1mm  1mm cross-section,
with different correlation of Chen (1966), Lazarek and Black (1982), Liu and Winterton (1991),
Tran et al. (1996), Kandlikar and Balasubramanian (2004), Lee and Mudawar (2005), Bertsch
(2009) and Kim and Mudawar (2013) for boiling flow heat transfer in Crew H/X and Avionics
H/X microchannels. Only the correlation proposed by Kim and Mudawar (2013) was found to be
in good agreement with their experimental data (Figure 23). Recently, Jagirdar and Lee (2016)
synchronized the transient heat transfer and visualization techniques for boiling flow of water in
a microchannel (height  width  length: 0.42 mm  2.54 mm  25.4 mm) to predict the transient
behavior of heat transfer coefficient, and linked with different flow regimes (passage of vapor
slug, 3-phase contact line, partial-dry-out and liquid slug). A peak in transient heat transfer
coefficient was observed when thin film evaporation mechanism is prevalent, which is
influenced by the downstream events obstructing the flow and the distance of bubble incipience.
According to Thiangtham et al. (2016), at low heat fluxes the heat transfer coefficient increases
with an increase in heat flux, however at high heat fluxes the heat transfer coefficient increases
with an increase in mass flux (Figure 12). For low vapor qualities, there was small increase in
heat transfer coefficient with an increase in heat flux while at high vapor quality there was
significant increase in heat transfer coefficient for an increase in mass flux. Also at high vapor
quality the influence of partial dry-out is significant. For low vapor quality the saturation
temperature significantly influenced the heat transfer coefficient. A new heat transfer correlation
was proposed for heat transfer coefficient, and was found in good agreement with the
experimental data. Figure 12 also shows the experimental data of Azolin et al. (2013) for boiling
flow of R32 and R1234ze(E).
Markal et al. (2016) studied the boiling flow heat transfer in parallel silicon microchannels with a
hydraulic diameter of 150 m using deionized water as a working fluid. It was reported that the
local two phase heat transfer coefficient decreases with an increase in heat flux or local vapor
quality for all the mass flux values considered, while significant increase in the heat transfer
coefficient was reported for an increase in the mass flux (Figure 24). It was reported that the
quasi-periodical characteristics is the flow boiling phenomenon and convective flow boiling was
dominant heat transfer mechanism. Figure 24 also shows variation of the total pressure drop
with heat flux for different values of mass fluxes, which shows the increasing behavior of
pressure drop. However, generally it has been found that with an increase in mass flux at a
constant heat flux the pressure drop decreases.

Figure 23
Figure 24
The various heat transfer correlations proposed for heat transfer coefficient in different boiling
flow regimes are discussed in Table 2. Some of the shortcomings in the heat transfer correlations
for boiling two-phase heat transfer coefficients were due to (Kandlikar, 2012):
(a) uncertainty in measurements of microchannel dimensions and wall temperatures;
(b) wall boundary conditions used by different authors;
(c) nucleation cavity sizes and microchannel wall roughness;
(d) differences in flow instability conditions and its severity.

Table 2

Considering the application of multiphase boiling flow heat transfer in microchannels, the heat
transfer behavior in micro–evaporators, or multi–microchannel evaporators, have been studied to
understand the complicated boiling flow heat transfer mechanism (Kandlikar, 2002; Thome et
al., 2004; Thome, 2006; Wang et al., 2008; Agostini et al., 2008a and 2008b; Costa-Patry, 2011;
Szczukiewicz et al., 2013; Huang et al., 2016). Agostini et al. (2008a and 2008b) predicted local
heat transfer coefficients for boiling flow of R245fa and R236fa. When the experimental heat
transfer data was plotted with local vapor quality an inverted ‘U’ shape bend was observed, i.e.
increasing, peak and decreasing trends. Further, in bubble coalescing flow regime a V shape
trend was reported, which was followed by annular flow regime (Costa-Patry, 2011).
Szczukiewicz et al. (2013) used an IR camera to predict local heat transfer coefficients for
boiling flow of different refrigerants in a multi-microchannel evaporator. The saturated boiling
flow mechanism in micro–evaporators was categorized as follows:
(i) The boiling flow heat transfer coefficient can be calculated either equation (1) (Bertsch et
al., 2009) or equation (2) (Kim and Mudawar, 2013) as follows:
(1)
(2)

The forced convection heat transfer coefficient (hFC) in both models is based on the
single phase flow in tube (either liquid or vapor). Though this approach is easier to apply,
however it has several drawbacks, such as the nucleate boiling does not take place along
the entire length of the microchannels, the mechanism for pool boiling is not considered
 rather it is considered that the heat transfer coefficient is the function of heat flux, and
finally in annular flow it is not appropriate to consider the convective heat transfer
correlation based on tube diameter for predicting forced convection boiling flow heat
transfer.
(ii) In this approach semi-/mechanistic models based on flow patterns have been used for
predicting the boiling flow heat transfer coefficient, which include bubbly/isolated
bubble, slug/plug, annular, mist and dry-out, since the heat transfer mechanism is
governed by the thin film evaporation. Further, in microevaporators slug and annular
flow regimes generally dominate, therefore the nucleate boiling approach is
applicable only at the point of onset of nucleate boiling (ONB) and is not valid for other
regimes. Therefore, the model developed by Costa-Patry and Thome (2013), which is
based on the flow patterns in microchannels was used for the prediction of boiling flow
heat transfer coefficient.

Recently, Huang et al. (2016) experimentally studied the boiling flow pressure drop and heat
transfer in a microchannel evaporator for R1233zd(E). Experiments were carried out over a wide
range of mass and heat fluxes, varying from 500 to 2750 kg/m2.s and 6 to 50 W/cm2,
respectively. A new empirical correlation for two-phase pressure drop was developed and
compared with the existing correlations (Figure 25). It was reported that, in the saturated flow
boiling region, for very low vapor quality (i.e., x < 0.05) the local heat transfer coefficient first
decreased slightly and then increased significantly. It was reported that the model based on flow
patterns is in good agreement with the liquid thin film evaporation mechanism and predicted
92% of the experimental heat transfer data within ±30%.

Figure 25

4.1 CHF for boiling flow in microchannels

CHF is an important parameter for boiling flow in mini- and micro- channels, as it gives the safe
limit of operation. There is an ample literature available for CHF for boiling flow in both mini-
as well as micro- channels (Qu and Mudawar, 2004; Kosar and Peles, 2007; Park and Thome,
2010; Zhang et al., 2006; Kosar et al., 2009; Tanaka et al., 2009; Kandlikar, 2010 and 2012).
Flow instabilities in microchannels largely influences the CHF and hence results into great
deviation in the experimental data. Bergles and Kandlikar (2005) reported that the flow
instabilities are responsible for lower CHF values. Revellin and Thome (2008) and Qu and
Mudawar (2004) developed the correaltions for the prediction of CHF in microchannels using
their experimental data. These correlations were in good agreement with the respective
experimental observations, however a deviation was observed when they are applied to other
experimental data. Kosar and Peles (2007) and Park and Thome (2010) compared their
experimental observations with the correlations proposed by Katto and Ohno (1984) and Shah
(1987) for mini-channels (Dh = 3 mm), and reported the deviation between 2040%. However, a
very high deviation was observed when Roday and Jensen (2009) applied the correlation of
Katto and Ohno (1984), for CHF, to their experimental data for Dh = 0.43 and 0.7 mm
microtubes and less deviation was reported for microtube with Dh = 0.286 mm.
Kandlikar (2010a) proposed a model for CHF for yielding low and high CHF regions using the
ratio of length-to-diameter (L/D) as an important parameter, where a lower value of L/D results
into higher CHF and higher L/D leads to a higher CHF value. Kandlikar (2010b) further
proposed a model for CHF over a wide range of parameters in terms of a new non-dimensionless
number (K2) as follows:

(3)

where K2 is the ratio of the evaporation momentum force to the surface tension force. The
comparison between the proposed model and experimental data from different sources is shown
in Figure 26. It was concluded that for lower mass fluxes and smaller channel sizes the surface
tension is an important parameter. For an increase in the channel dimensions or mass flux,
viscous terms (Ca) start dominating, and inertial forces (We) become important for larger
channel sizes or higher mass fluxes (Kandlikar, 2010).

Figure 26
4.2 Boiling flow instabilities in microchannels
Boiling flow instabilities significantly influence the heat transfer coefficients and their
correlations in microchannels (Hetsroni et al., 2003; Yen et al., 2003; Steinke and Kandlikar,
2004; Kosar et al., 2005; Kandlikar, 2006; Qu and Mudawar, 2004; Wu and Cheng, 2003;
Hetsroni et al., 2005), and has been reported as the concern for boiling flow heat transfer in
microchannels. In microchannels, the flow instabilities leads to the delay in onset of nucleation
and hence results into the high liquid superheat at the nucleation point. This is further results into
sudden bubble growth or expansion of bubbles into both downstream as well upstream directions
(Kandlikar, 2002 and 2006). The flow instability in the microchannel is induced due to the
backflow of boiling fluids. Mukherjee and Kandlikar (2005) numerically reported that the flow
instabilities in mini- and micro- channels were caused due to local liquid superheat. It was also
reported that the expansion of bubble in the upstream direction results into the backflow in the
microchannels. Some of the researchers provided the artificial nucleation sites and heated
regions to reduce the boiling flow instabilities in microchannels (Kandlikar, 2003; kandlikar et
al., 2006; Kosar et al., 2006). Though the flow instabilities have been reduced in the
microchannels, however it severely affected the CHF conditions. A large data set have been
generated by number of researchers for identifying the conditions for both stable as well as
unstable operations for boiling flow in both mini- and micro- channels.
Brutin and Tadrist (2006) both experimentally as well as numerically reported the destabilization
mechanism in microchannels. The ratio of the overpressure created by the slug and the channels
pressure was related to the heat flux. For indicating the flow instability a new parameter was
introduced by taking the ratio of channel pressure drop and heat flux. However, the proposed
criterion was specific to the respective channel dimensions.
Ledinegg instabilities (LI) were studied in a minichannel (1 mm  1mm) based on stainless steel
plate using HFE-7100 as a working fluid (Garrity et al., 2009). Ledinegg instabilities refer to the
static instabilities described for boiling flow in microchannels. The flow instability region was
predicted by modeling, and a good agreement was found with the experimental data. The
Ledinegg type instabilities in microchannels were also modeled by Zhang et al. (2009) by
modeling pressure drop with flow rate and demand curves available in the literature. The onset of
instabilities was predicted by comparing the slope of two curves. Further, they reported a new
parameter for the identification of stable operation, i.e. the ratio of kinematic viscosities of liquid
to vapor phases, which indicated that higher the ratio more unstable is the operation for HFE-
7100. In continuation with their previous study, Zhang et al. (2010) reduced the instabilities or
flow oscillations using an active oscillatory mass flow controller. It was proposed that the
dynamic control system is very promising to control oscillatory system behavior. For reducing
the boiling flow instabilities Szczukiewicz (2013a) used micro-orifices, of expansion ratio
varying from1.33 to 4, at the inlet of microchannels, for R236fa as a working fluid, in a
microchannel with 100  100 m2 of cross-sectional area. There was improvement in two-phase
flow stabilities for an increase in expansion ratio of the inlet restrictions. Though, the two-phase
was always unstable in the microchannel, however the base temperature was having stable
values. This was due to the fact that the restriction at the inlet increased the liquid velocity, and
hence the liquid flow rate. Therefore, the liquid flowed through the liquid film and increased its
thickness, which in turn squeezed the bubbles and hence reduced the thin film evaporation heat
transfer rate.
Three types of flow instabilities in a mini-channel for boiling of deionised water were
experimentally reported by Zu et al. (2016), such as density wave oscillation (DWO), pressure
drop oscillation (PDO) and Ledinegg instability (LI). The onset of flow instability (OFI) was
compared with the correlations available in the literature and was found in good agreement. OFI
was reported in terms of stability map, i.e. subcooling number (Nsub) versus phase change
number (Npch) (Figure 27). It was reported that the CHF does not influence the pressure drop
oscillations, which was generally observed in mini-/micro-channels for flow instabilities.

(Figure 27)

4.3 Boiling Flow Modeling

4.3.1 Correlation based models

A number of approaches for modeling of boiling flow heat transfer in microchannels have been
proposed, such as two–(Jacobi and Thome, 2002) and three–(Thome et al., 2004; Dupont et al.,
2004) zone heat transfer models, and bubble coalescence model (Consolini and Thome, 2010).
For boiling flow heat transfer in microchannels having width of 65 m and 110 m, Moriyama
et al. (1992) developed a model for slug flow (Figure 28a) in low vapor quality region, and
annular (film) flow (Figure 28b) in high vapor quality region. The model was developed in
terms of capillary number (Ca = LjT/), as liquid–vapor interface plays an important role in the
thickness of the film deposited. Moriyama et al. (1992) compared experimental data with their
modeled data (Figure 29). It was observed that the modeled data followed well the similar trend
for smaller gap sizes. It can be seen from Figure 29 that at lower Capillary number the heat
transfer coefficient was lower, due to thicker film, whereas at higher Capillary number heat
transfer coefficient was higher, due thinner film. It was suggested that the proposed model can be
further modified by introducing flow instabilities and liquid film thickness.

Figure 28
Figure 29

An analytical “two–zone” model was proposed for describing the boiling flow in microchannels
in the slug or elongated bubble flow regime Jacobi and Thome (2002). It was reported that the
transient thin film evaporation dominate the heat transfer mechanism in microchannels instead of
nucleate boiling in macrochannels. Further, the heat transfer coefficient is less influenced by
small heat fluxes and significantly influenced by higher heat fluxes, which was in good
agreement with the experimental data of Tran et al. (1996) at low heat fluxes and Bao et al.
(2000) for higher heat fluxes. Also, it was concluded that the influence of mass flux on heat
transfer coefficient is nearly negligible as compared to the heat flux. Thome et al. (2004) and
Dupont et al. (2004) modified the elongated bubble model of Jacobi and Thome (2002) into a
three–zone heat transfer model for slug flow. In this model the heat transfer calculations were
done as follows: (i) the single-phase liquid heat transfer in the slug was calculated using steady-
state laminar flow equations, (ii) in the liquid film the thin film evaporation was calculated using
conduction equations, (iii) heat transfer in the dry regions was evaluated using gas flow
equations, and (iv) finally the film thickness was back calculated to match the data, which did
not provide accurately the actual film thicknesses. Therefore, the model proposed was a steady
state model. The main assumption in the model was that the vapor as well as the liquid remains
at the saturation temperature, constant and uniform heat flux along the inner wall, and both
vapor and liquid travel at the same velocity. It was reported that micro-convection and heat
conduction is taking place in the liquid, as the liquid–vapor interface sweeps over the film are
essentially transient phenomena.
In the proposed two–phase three–zone heat transfer model the heat transfer coefficient is a
function of minimum thickness of the liquid film at dryout, initial liquid film thickness and
bubble frequency. Figure 30 shows the schematic representation of the three-zone heat transfer
model (Thome et al., 2004). The limitation of the model equations for gas flow and liquid slugs
was that the accurate representation of the two-phase flow fields was not provided. Baldassari
and Marengo (2013) fitted the three–zone heat transfer model with the experimental data of Bao
et al. (2000), where experiments were conducted at different vapor quality and for different
refrigerating fluids (R–11 and R–123) in a channel of 1.95 mm internal diameter. At low vapor
quality the heat transfer predictions were in good agreement, while at higher vapor quality there
was deviation in experimental data and model predictions.

Figure 30

According to Thome, the thin film evaporation governs the slug flow heat transfer coefficient.
The proposed model can predict the heat transfer coefficient of each zone and the local time-
averaged heat transfer coefficient along the length of the microchannel during evaporation of an
elongated bubble. The boundary condition considered was uniform heat flux. The model was
supported by an extensive experimental data set involving: channel dimensions (Dh = 0.77 – 3.1
mm), fluids (R11, R12, R113, R123, R134a, R141b and CO2), the vapor qualities (0.01 to 0.99),
the heat flux (5 to 178 kW/m2) and mass velocities (50 to 564 kg/m2.s). The limitation of the
proposed model was that it is only applicable to the slug flow regime with and without
intermittent dryout; though annular flow regime in microchannels is also a dominant flow
regimes.

Zhang et al. (2002) proposed a model for predicting the heat transfer coefficient along the length
of the microchannels, using the information from the existing empirical correlations. The heat
transfer predictions were found in good agreement with the model along the length of the
microchannel made of silicon chip having hydraulic diameters of 20–60 m. Ribatski et al.
(2006) and Thome (2006) reported huge deviation between experimental data and three-zone
flow boiling model predictions, even more than 50%. Therefore, further experimental as well
modeling studies are needed to have a model with good accuracy and design of microchanel
systems for various applications.
Shiferaw et al. (2006, 2007 and 2009) compared their experimental data with three–zone heat
transfer model. Their experimental data suggested that nucleate boiling dominates the boiling
flow in large tubes. However, using three-zone heat transfer model similar behavior was
observed in small microchannels without nucleate boiling contribution, and the dominating heat
transfer mechanism was the transient evaporation of thin liquid film surrounding vapor slug.
Shiferaw et al. (2006) experimentally reported that the heat transfer coefficient (h) becomes
independent of (q”) for higher vapor quality (x) and it decreases with x. However, decrease in
heat transfer coefficient (h) was not predicted by the model (Thome et al., 2004), which
experimentally occurred at high x. It was reported that this behavior could be attributed to the
partial (intermittent) dryout. For lower value of channel diameter (2.01 mm) the experimental
heat transfer coefficient was in good agreement with the three-zone heat transfer model, however
for higher values of q” heat transfer predictions were over-predicted. In the case of higher tube
diameter (Dh = 4.26 mm) the deviation between the experimental and model data was increased
with an increase in heat flux (q”). Further, the heat transfer coefficient decreased with an
increase in q”. It was also reported that the Thome et al. (2004) give satisfactory predictions for
heat transfer in annular flow regimes and upto the onset of partial dryout, though the three-zone
heat transfer model was developed for the slug flow regime only (Shiferaw et al., 2007). The
model also predicted the churn/annular transition boundary as reported by Chen et al. (2006),
therefore the model can also be used for heat transfer predictions in the annular regime.
However, predictions of Chen et al. (2006) deviated from the experimental data of Shiferaw et al.
(2007), which may be due to the different experimental conditions used by them. Shiferaw et al.
(2011) reported that for smaller tube diameter (1.1 mm) the experimental data at low vapor
quality were in good agreement with three–zone heat transfer model predictions. However, the
three-zone heat transfer model was not able to predict the decrease in heat transfer coefficient at
higher vapor quality, which may due to the dryout conditions, and therefore further studies are
required to improve the model by considering dryout conditions.

For annular flow regime, Cioncolini et al. (2009) and Cioncolini and Thome (2010 and 2011)
developed a model for the predictions of frictional pressure gradient (2009) and the entrained
liquid fraction (2010). For the prediction of heat transfer, Consolini and Thome (2010) included
the bubble coalescence in the thin evaporating film model, i.e. three–phase model and compared
their model data with the experimental data of Lin et al. (1999) for R–141b. A similar trend of
heat transfer coefficient with heat flux was reported (Figure 31). However, at higher heat flux
the experimental heat transfer coefficient data under-predicted the model predictions. It was also
proposed that the constant heat flux model can be extended to the transient heat flux case. Liu et
al. (2005) also observed the slug or elongated bubble formation due to bubble coalescence in
parallel multiple microchannels. The influence of downstream vapor slug on the behavior and
growth of trailing bubbles was also reported. For the intermediate vapor qualities, the coalescing
bubble flow was reported as one of the characteristic flow patterns.

Figure 31

For annular flow in microchhannels, Na and Chung (2011) developed a heat transfer model
considering constant wall temperature and heat flux boundary conditions. Assuming the presence
of annular flow regime in the microchannels even at low values of vapor quality, Harirchian and
Garimella (2012) proposed a flow regime-based model for heat transfer coefficient prediction in
the annular and annular/wispy-annular regions. However, for bubbly flow an empirical
correlation proposed by Cooper (1984) and for slug flow the three–zone heat transfer model of
Thome et al. (2004) were used.

Models based on pool boiling (Myeres et al., 2005; Moghadem and Kiger, 2009), annular flow
(Megahed and Hassan, 2010; Qu and Mudawar, 2003) have also been proposed in the literature.
Peles and Haber (2000) considered the variation of contact angles and developed a model for
annular flow in triangular microchannels. Fogg and Goodson (2009) developed a model
considering the acoustic or pressure driven pulses for heat transfer enhancement in a
microchannel. The confined bubble growth rates were predicted within 20%. In another
modeling approach, Young–Laplace approach was coupled with kinetic theory-based
expressions for modeling thin film evaporation in a microchannel (Wang et al., 2007). Mandel et
al. (2011) improved thin evaporation model by coupling the Xu and Carey (1990) and Wang et
al. (2011) models. Ranjan et al. (2011) combined the kinetic theory-based expressions and CFD
based model for the prediction of thin film evaporation in capillary wicks. Wu et al. (2009)
reported the annular condensation in a rectangular microchannel. However, these studies were
limited for steady state modeling.
Recently, Gedupudi et al. (2016) used one-dimensional model to study the effect of inlet
resistance on flow reversal distance and local pressure fluctuations for different nucleate site
locations, initial channel velocity, heat flux and channel dimensions. The working fluids
considered were water and FC-72 at atmospheric pressure and R134a at 800 kPa. It was found
that higher value of inlet restriction coefficient is required to decrease the flow reversal at low
inlet velocity, higher heat flux, nucleation sites closure to inlet and small cross-section
dimensions.

In general, there are number of models have been proposed specific to different flow patterns and
these models perform well with the corresponding experiments carried out by same research
groups for the validation of their model. However, a further understanding is required for the
development of a universal model by relating advanced experimental measurement techniques
with modeling aspects, for a wide range of channel dimensions and operating conditions.

4.2.2 Numerical modeling of boiling flow

For boiling flow in both micro- and mini- channels it is important to predict the transient
behavior of various flow regimes. The empirical correlations based model cannot predict the
transient behavior; therefore computational based models are helpful in predicting the boiling
flow and tracking vapor-liquid interface in micro- and mini- channels, after proper validation.
The bubble growth during boiling flow, due to evaporation, was numerically modeled in a
microchannel using level set method (Mukherjee and Kandlikar, 2005). The Fourier’s law was
applied for the prediction of heat flux at the liquid–vapor interface. The single bubble growth
was reported as it moved through the microchannel, which was also qualitatively validated with
the experimental visualization data of Balasubramanian and Kandlikar (2004). The modified
level set approach have been used by Lee et al. (2012) to study the boiling flow in a finned
microchannel. They have included the solid domain in computation domain to account the
thermal response in the heat transfer predictions.
A number of researchers have used the volume of fraction (VOF) approach for studying the
boiling flow in microchannels. The various flow regimes, their transition, boiling curves and
bubble characteristics have been investigated using VOF approach and compared with the
experimental observations (Wang and Zhuan, 2008; Fang et al., 2010; Zhuan and Wang,
2010, 2011 and 2012; Magnini et al., 2013a and 2013b). For an application to keep liquid phase
and vent the locally developed vapor, Fang et al. (2010) numerically modeled the boiling flow
heat transfer in a vapor–venting microchannel. Using VOF approach with evaporation model
Magnini et al. (2013a and 2013b) studied the single bubble growth as well as the interaction
between two successive bubbles in a cylindrical microchannel. Using VOF approach, Da Riva
and Del Col (2012) studied the R134a film condensation in a horizontal circular minichannel. It
was reported that in the upper half of the channel the film thickness was remained constant while
in the bottom half of the channel the film became thicker due to gravity. Ling et al. (2015)
studied the boiling flow in a three dimensional rectangular microchannel using direct numerical
simulation (DNS). The liquid vapor interface was traced using a coupled VOF and level-set
methods. It was reported that the bubble growth and merger can produce a temporal increase in
the heat flux. The high heat flux was due to the thin liquid film between microchannel wall and
the bubble.
Ganapathy et al. (2013) numerically modeled the condensation heat transfer and fluid flow
characteristics in a microchannel with Dh = 100 m, using VOF approach. The working fluid
was R134a and the heat and mass fluxes were varied from 200 to 800 kW/m2 and 245 to
615 kg/m2.s, respectively. The flow patterns were qualitative compared with the experimental
visualization data available in the literature and were found in good agreement (Figure 32). The
numerical prediction were compared with the empirical correlations available for two-phase
frictional pressure drop and Nusselt number in the literature, and was found in good agreement
with an error of 8.1% for two-phase frictional pressure drop and 16.6% for Nusselt number.

Figure 32

Chen et al. (2014) numerically predicted the boiling flow characteristics for FC-72 in a
rectangular microchannel with Dh = 1 mm using VOF approach. The numerical predictions were
compared with the experimental data available in the literature and a good agreement was
reported (Figure 33). It was reported that the vapor phase forms a continuous column with a
decreasing diameter from upstream to downstream of the microchannel. The vapor column
length increased for a decrease in heat flux or an increase in mass flux. Slugs were produced by
the breakage of the vapor column, which was due to the waves along the interface. The bubble
size increased with an increase in mass flux or a decrease in heat flux. The numerically predicted
transition behavior for different flow regimes was in good agreement with the experimental data
of Kim et al. (2012) (Figure 34). However, the predictions were deviated from the experimental
results of Wang et al. (2002), which may be due to the different channel dimensions and the fluid
used.

Figure 33
Figure 34

It was observed that the available numerical studies were focused on flow regimes predictions
and phase change behavior for boiling flow in mini-channels, and very less attention has been
made on micro-channels. Further, very less attention has been made on condensation in both
micro- and mini- channels with different configurations. Most of the modeling approaches
available in the literature can be used for simpler geometries and can only be used for the
respective configurations and range of parameters. Therefore, further modifications in the
modeling approach are needed, so that it can be used for complex configurations, such as bends
and curved tube used in advanced boilers in thermal power plants. Also, more attention is
required for modeling of boiling flow in microchannels, especially hydraulic diameter less than 1
mm and more preferably 200 m.

4.2 Process Intensification in Boiling Flow Heat Transfer Enhancement in Microchannels

The boiling flow heat transfer enhancement in microchannels has been made either by change in
microchannel configurations or by introducing nano–fluids in the fluid streams. Kosar and Peles
(2006) and Krishnamurthy and Peles (2010) used microfins with HFE7000 in a microchannel (dh
= 222 m) to enhance the boiling flow heat transfer. Khanikar et al. (2009) used nano–structures
on the microchannel walls for the enhacement in heat transfer. It was reported that the
enhancement in heat transfer reduced by continuous testing, which resulted into the damage of
nanostructures. Kuo et al. (2007) experimentally studied the convective boiling heat transfer in a
microchannel with reentrant structure and exhibited an augmentation of ~30% in the HTC as
compared to microchannels having plain channel wall. Besides, there was reduction in the heat
flux at ONB by ~70%, while there was an increase in the CHF by ~50% at the medium mass flux
range. In another study, Kuo et al. (2008) identified the mitigation of the rapid bubble growth
instability in the reentrant microchannels, leading to the delayed CHF.
Chai et al. both numerically (2011) and experimentally (2014) studied the influence of reentrant
structures with variation in the reentrant cross section, including triangular, trapezoidal,
rectangular and fan-shaped ones, on the gas–liquid two–phase flow patterns and heat transfer
characteristics. Deng et al. (2014, 2015) reported the significant enhancement in boiling flow
heat transfer and mitigation of two–phase instability in a reentrant microchannel with semi-
closed X-shaped cross section.
Lee et al. (2004) experimentally reported the bubble dynamics in a microchannel of trapezoid
cross-section with a hydraulic diameter of 41.3 μm. It was reported that the bubble grows with a
constant rate from 0.13 to 7.08 μm/ms, however few cases demonstrated an extraordinarily high
growth rate from 72.8 to 95.2 μm/ms. Further, the bubble frequency in trapezoidal microchannel
was comparable to that in an ordinary sized channels. For the enhancement of boiling flow heat
transfer Mghari et al. (2014) used non-circular microchannels (rectangular, square and
trianugular microchannels with different aspect ratio, mass fluxes and contact angle). For a
decrease in the hydraulic diameter from 250 to 80 μm there was a decrease in condensate film
thickness and the heat transfer was enhanced by 39%, for the same mass flux. For an increase in
contact angle from 6 o to 15o, the heat transfer coefficient was enhanced by 100%. Further, the
lowest heat transfer coefficient value was reported for the square microchannel.
Fogg and Goodson (2009) enhanced the boiling flow heat transfer in microchannels using
acoustic pulses. The pressure driven pulses may help in further growth of bubbles even at lower
wall temperatures. This results into the additional nucleation and enhancement in heat transfer
for smaller period, however increased flow instability may enhance heat transfer for longer
periods.
Law et al. (2015) experimentally studied the disruption of the thin liquid film by the secondary
oblique channels, which lead to a regenerative boundary layer in the convective boiling region,
and the breaking of enlarged vapor slugs by the sharp fin corners, leading to the augmentation of
heat transfer and delay of the CHF. They also compared the pressure drop and boiling flow heat
transfer characteristics between the novel design and the conventional straight microchannels.
Prajapati et al. (2015) studied the boiling flow heat transfer in the uniform, diverging and
segmented finned microchannels over a wide range of heat and mass fluxes. Higher heat transfer
coefficient with negligible increase in the pressure drop (~5%) was observed in the segmented
microchannel as compared to other configurations. It may be due to enhanced nucleated boiling,
reduced thermal boundary layer and secondary passage for the enlarged bubbles.
A number of researchers have used the interconnected microchannel net (IMN) to study the pool
boiling heat transfer (Ramaswamy et al., 1999, 2002, 2003a, 2003b; Ghui et al., 2005; Yong et
al., 2016; Shiwie et al., 2016) and it was reported that IMN can dissipate heat flux three times
higher than that of conventional channels. Recently, Zhang et al. (2016) studied the boiling flow
heat transfer enhancement in an IMN using deionized water as the working fluid over a wide
range of heat and mass fluxes (G = 100, 180 and 250 kg/m2.s) and compared their findings with
conventional rectangular microchannels (RMC). The IMN was fabricated on a pure copper
substrate with the dimension of 45mm  20mm  2mm (length  width  height), having 16
parallel channels with the same width (W) of 0.4 mm and pitch (P) of 1.2 mm, while the RMC
was of same dimensions. It was found that the IMN have lower pressure drop and higher heat
transfer coefficient at G = 100 and 180 kg/m2.s as compared to the RMC, however, at G = 250
kg/m2.s a reverse trend was reported (Figure 35). Further, a transition from the nucleate to the
convective boiling region was reported with an increase in vapor quality for both microchannels
at G = 180 and 250 kg/m2.s, which was accompanied with the change in flow patterns from
bubbly to annular flow. However, the above heat transfer mechanism was not observed at G =
100 kg/m2.s. Also, the two-phase flow instabilities in IMN diminished at higher value of mass
flux, i.e. G = 250 kg/m2.s, which account for higher pressure drop and lower heat transfer rate for
IMN as compared to RMC at high mass flux (Figure 36).

Figure 35
Figure 36

Nanofluids have also been used for enhancing boiling flow heat transfer in micro-channels (Lee
and Mudawar, 2007; Cheng et al., 2008; Ahn et al., 2010). Lee and Mudawar (2007) observed
that nanofluids get deposited on the surface of the microchannels, and behaves like a
nanostructures, which enhances the heat transfer. Ahn et al. (2010) reported a significant
enhancement in the CHF (~55%) using alumina nanoparticles (0.01% concentration).The
deposition of nanoparticles on the microchannel surface decreased the contact angle from 65o to
~12o, which results into the enhancement in heat transfer. Therefore, it was also concluded that
the reduction in contact angle of the surface also enhances the CHF in microchannels.
Xu and Xu (2012) reported the boiling flow heat transfer for pure water and nanofluid (2% Al2O3
nanoparticles in water) in a microchannel having dimensions of 7500 × 100 × 250 μm (length 
depth  width) based on pyrex glasses and silicon wafer. For pure water, at moderate heat fluxes,
random bubble coalescence and breakup was observed. Further, large flow instabilities were
reported at high heat flux (Figure 37). However, in the case of nanofluid flow instabilities were
significantly mitigated. Also, for nanofluids the boiling flow was always stable or quasi-stable,
and there was a significant reduction in pressure drop and enhancement in heat transfer. The
boiling flow heat transfer enhancement in presence of nanofluids as compared to the pure water
may be due to the dry patch development and the enlarged percentage of liquid film evaporation
heat transfer region (Figure 37).
Figure 37

Far et al. (2015) studied the boiling flow heat transfer in a segmented microchannel using nano-
encapsulated phase change material (NEPCM) as the working fluid. It was reported that with an
increase in NEPCM volume fraction the thermal boundary gets thinner on the microchannel wall,
due to the introduction of stronger disturbance, which results in to higher heat dissipation rate.
Though a lot of research has been carried out on boiling flow heat transfer in straight
microchannels, however very less attention has been made on the zig-zag, serpentine and curved
microchannels. Already the multiphase fluid flow hydrodynamics and mixing is very well
established in both micro- and mini- tubes (Kumar et al., 2008b; Vashisth et al., 2008a). Another
heat transfer device/configuration, referred as "coiled flow inverter", have shown tremendous
enhancement in terms of mixing, and heat and mass transfer, which can also be used for
enhancing boiling flow heat transfer enhancement (Kumar et al., 2008; Mridha et al., 2010).
Vashisth et al. (2008 and 2009) has already established the multiphase fluid hydrodynamics
considering air-water flow through coiled flow inverter.
5. Concluding Remarks

Microscale heat transfer devices are powerful tools for flow boiling as well as condensation, and
have been successfully applied for improvement of established heat transfer processes in
industry. In recent years microscale heat transfer devices have been widely used in aerospace as
well as industrial applications involving flow boiling and condensation processes. From the
research publication analysis carried out in the present article it was found that most of the
development is in the last 15 years and it is still in progress. From the year 2003 onward, the
focus is more in the field of applications rather than development of microscale heat transfer
devices.
In the present review the experimental research efforts of boiling flow and condensation
behavior, and heat transfer mechanism studied by number of researchers were analyzed and
discussed. It was found that, very rarely the heat transfer mechanism for boiling flow in
macrochannels is applicable to the micro- and mini- channels, which may be due to the strong
influence of capillary forces and week effect of buoyancy forces. Further, the existing well
understood theories for heat transfer mechanisms for single phase fluid flow through
microchannles are not applicable for the multiphase fluid flow or boiling flow in microchannels.
Further, the boiling flow pressure drop has not been considered by many researchers for heat
transfer calculations in micro– and mini– channels, which is an important parameter. Regarding
flow patterns and their transition, it is required to incorporate the fluid properties for the
generalization of flow pattern maps for working with other fluids.
In the case of heat transfer coefficients, the available correlations were specific with respect to
the respective work and inconsistent when applied to other experimental data. Therefore, a
rigorous experimental study for boiling flow in microchannels with different dimensions, heat
and mass fluxes and working fluids is required, which is universal and applicable to any system.
Kim and mudwar (2013) developed a universal correlation for boiling flow heat transfer in
microchannels considering different hydraulic diameters, fluids, operating conditions and flow
regimes, which predicted the experimental results available in the literature within 20–25%
MAE. However, for Dh < 1 mm the MAE was more than 30%. Recently, a lot of efforts have
been made for the enhancement of heat transfer in the microchannels. The heat transfer in
microchannels can be enhanced by changing the configuration of microchannels. Also, nano-
coating on the microchannel surface have been proposed to enhance the CHF and reduce the wall
superheat.
The main challenges for boiling flow in microchannels are to predict flow patterns, pressure drop
and heat transfer coefficient accurately for design of systems for refrigeration and aerospace
applications. Some of the research areas which need further attention, especially for channels
with Dh  1 mm, are: (i) heat transfer data which are consistent with the developed empirical
correlations, (ii) detailed understanding for the heat transfer mechanism in microchannels, (iii)
both theoretical and numerical modeling of boiling flow in microchannel in combination of
visual measurements to understand the detailed physics, and (iv) the technologies for heat
transfer enhancement for boiling flow in microchannels, i.e. by both active and passive
techniques, it can be improved either by using nanocoating on the microchannel surface or by
changing the direction of flow (curved, zigzag, sinusoidal microchannels, etc. or coiled flow
inverters).

Acknowledgments

The authors are very much thankful to Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee for allowing
tocomplete this manuscript.

Notations

Dh hydraulic diameter of the micro- and mini- channels (m)

F free convection component

Fc, S nucleate boiling component

G mass flux (kg/m2.s)

H heat transfer coefficient (W/m2.K)

jT total volumetric flux (m/s)

k thermal conductivity (W/m.K)

K2 non-dimensionless parameter
L length of the microchannel (m)

P pressure (bar)

q heat flux (W/m2)

T Temperature (K)

P pitch between the fins in microchannel (m)

u superficial velocity (m/s)

W width of the microchannel (m)

x vapor quality

Dimensionless numbers

Bi Biot number

Bo boiling number

Ca Capillary number (= LjT/)

Co Confinement number (= [/(g(L  V)d2h)]1/2)

Fr Froude number

K1 Kandlikar first number (= (q"/G.hLV)2(L/V))

K2 Kandlikar second number (= (q"/hLV)2(Dh/V))

Pr Prandtl number (= Cp/k)

Re Reynolds number (= Dhv/ = Dv/)

Relo liquid only Reynolds number

Revo vapor only Reynolds number

Su Suratman number (= L/2)

We Weber number
Greek letters

 viscosity (kg/m.s)

 density (kg/m3)

 surface tension (N/m)

Subscripts

con convection

f fluid (liquid phase)

g gas

FC free convection

h hydraulic diameter

l liquid

sub subcooled liquid

sat saturated liquid

lo, LO liquid only

sp single phase

TP two-phases

v vapor phase

vo vapor only

w wall

Abbreviation

IB isolated bubble regime

CB coalescing bubble regime

A annular regime

PD post-dryout regime

CHF critical heat flux

IMN interconnected microchannel net

NB nucleate boiling

ONB onset of nucleate boiling

RMC rectangular microchannels

NEPCM nano-encapsulated phase change material

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List of Tables

Table 1 Flow patterns for flow boiling in microchannels

Table 2 Some important correlations for heat transfer coefficients for boiling flow in mini– and
micro– channels (used by various authors for their experimental data comparison).
 List of Figures

Figure 1 Number of publications with reference to their type of document for boiling flow in
micro–heat transfer devices.
Figure 2 Year and country wise publications for boiling flow in microchannels.
Figure 3 Number of publications in different journals for boiling flow in micro–heat transfer
devices.
Figure 4 Operating range for different dimensionless numbers considered for boiling flow in
both micro- and mini- channels. Vertical line represent the operating range of
dimensionless number for both micro- and mini- channels while horizontal lines
represents the maximum operating limit for microchannels, i.e. Dh  1.1 mm.
Figure 5 Flow patterns in mini-channels at 10 bar pressure for R-134a having internal diameters
as (a) 1.1 mm and (b) 2.01 mm (Reprinted from International Journal of Heat and
Mass Transfer, 49(21-22), Chen, L., Tian, Y.S., Karayiannis, T.G., The effect of tube
diameter on vertical two-phase flow regimes in small tubes, 4220-4230, 2006, with
permission from Elsevier).
Figure 6 Flow patterns in a mini-channel having 1.1 mm internal diameter tube for R134a at G =
200 kg/m2.s and p = 8 bar for (a) 16 kW/m2, (b) 27 kW/m2, (c) 34 kW/m2, (d) 53
kW/m2, (e) 69 kW/m2 and (f) 71 kW/m2. (Reprinted from International Journal of
Thermal Sciences, 48, Shiferaw, D., Karayannis, T.G., Kenning, D.B.R., Flow boiling
in a 1.1 mm tube with R134a: experimental results and comparison with model, 331-
341, Copyright (2009), with permission from Elsevier).
Figure 7 Flow patterns in a microchannels of 0.5 mm internal tube diameter with 70.70 mm
length for (i) R-134a at G = 500 kg/m2.s, Tsat = 30 oC and Tsub = 3 oC (© IOP
Publishing. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved), and (ii) R-245fa at
G = 500 kg m−2s−1 and Tsat = 35 °C. (Reprinted from International Journal of Heat and
Fluid Flow, 28(1), Revellin, R., Thome, J.R., Experimental investigation of R-134a
and R-245fa two-phase flow in microchannels for different flow conditions, 63-71.,
2007, with permission from Elsevier)
Figure 8 Boiling flow patterns in microchannels (B  bubbly, S  slug, C  churn, W  wispy-
annular (W), A  annular; B/S  alternating bubbly/slug flow, C/W  alternating
churn/wispy-annular flow or C/A  alternating churn/annular flow; empty rectangles
represent single–phase flow) (Reprinted from International Journal of Heat and Mass
Transfer, 53/13-14, Harirchian, T., Garimella, S.V., A comprehensive flow regime
map for microchannel flow boiling with quantitative transition criteria, 2694-2702,
2010, with permission from Elsevier).
Figure 9 Boiling flow patterns in minichannels (C1: W = 5.6 mm, H = 0.8 mm, AR1 = 0.143;
and C2: W = 2.3 mm, H = 1 mm, AR2 = 0.43) (Reprinted from Experimental Thermal
and Fluid Science, 35(5), Soupremanien, U., Person, S.L., Favre-Marinet, M., Bultel,
Y., Influence of the aspect ratio on boiling flows in rectangular mini-channels, 797-
809, 2011, with permission from Elsevier).
Figure 10 Flow patterns in a rectangular microchannel (RMC): bubbly flow (q = 200 kW/m2),
slug flow (q = 245 kW/m2), annular flow (q=425 kW/m2) at G = 180 kg/m2.s
(Reprinted from International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 98, Zhang, S., Tang,
Y., Yuan, W., Zeng, J., Xie, Y., A comparative study of flow boiling performance in
the interconnected microchannel net and rectangular microchannels, 814-823, 2016,
with permission from Elsevier).
Figure 11 Flow pattern in the microchannel at point C of Figure 35 for (a) pure water and (b)
nanofluids (Reprinted from International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 55, Xu,
L., Xu, J., Nanofluid stabilizes and enhances convective boiling heat transfer in a
single microchannel, 5673-5676, 2012, with permission from Elsevier).
Figure 12 Heat transfer coefficient at different heat and mass fluxes for R-134a in a
microchannel with Dh = 421 m at x = 0.1 and Tsat = 23 oC, and R1234ze(E) and 50-50
mixture of R32 and R1234ze(E) in a 0.96 mm mini-channel for vapor quality varying
from 0.15 to 0.25.
Figure 13 Flow pattern maps for boiling flow of R-134a in a microchannel (Dh = 0.509 mm, L =
50 mm) at Tsat = 30 oC and Tsub = 3 oC (Reprinted from International Journal of Heat
and Fluid Flow, 28(1), Revellin, R., Thome, J.R., Experimental investigation of R-
134a and R-245fa two-phase flow in microchannels for different flow conditions, 63-
71., 2007, with permission from Elsevier).
Figure 14 Flow map for diabatic coalescing bubbles in a uniformly heated circular
microchannels: R-134a, D = 0.5 mm, L = 70 mm, T sat = 30 oC, q = 50 kW/m2 and
Tsub = 0 oC at (Revellin, R., Thome, J.R., 2007a, © IOP Publishing. Reproduced
with permission. All rights reserved). (IB - isolated bubble reagime; CB - coalescining
bubble regime; A - annular regime; and PD - post-dryout regime).
Figure 15 Experimental flow pattern transition lines comparison with the new proposed flow
transition lines for R134 in a mini-channel having internal diameter of 1.03 mm
channel at Tsat = 31 oC and Tsub = 4 K for (a) R134 and (b) R236fa, and (c) R245fa
(Reprinted from Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science, 33, Flow boiling heat
transfer of R134a, R236fa and R245fa in a horizontal 1.030mm circular channel, Ong,
C., Thome, J.R., 651-663, Copyright (2009), with permission from Elsevier)
Figure 16 (a) Flow regime map for FC-77 (Reprinted from International Journal of Heat and
Mass Transfer, 53/13-14, Harirchian, T., Garimella, S.V., A comprehensive flow
regime map for microchannel flow boiling with quantitative transition criteria, 2694-
2702, Copyright (2010), with permission from Elsevier), and (b) modified flow regime
map for FC77 (Reprinted from International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 55,
Harirchian, T., Garimella, S.V., Flow regime-based modeling of heat transfer and
pressure drop in microchannel flow boiling, 1246-1260, Copyright (2012), with
permission from Elsevier).
Figure 17 Flow pattern map with transition lines for Dh = 0.781 mm at Tsat = 25 °C and inlet sub
cooling of 2 °C. Legends with black solid line (---) - experimental data of Ali et al.
(2013) with flow regimes; dashed red (- - -) and green (- - -) lines experimental
transition lines of Chen et al. (2004) for R134a in a circular test section (Dh = 1.10
mm) at 6 and 10 bar pressures, respectively; and blue solid lines (---) is the
experimental transition lines of Revellin and Thome for R134a in a circular test
section (Dh = 0.5 mm) at Tsat = 30 oC and T = 3 oC (figure redrawn from the data
taken from Ali et al., 2013).
Figure 18 Boiling curve for boiling flow of ethanol in a microchannel of 1 mm width and 250
m depth at G = 20.4 kg/m2.s with: (a) bubble slug flow pattern at q" = 81.8 kW/m2,
(b) long slug flow pattern at q" = 199.4 kW/m2, and (c) annular flow pattern at q" =
244.1 kW/m2 (Reprinted from Applied Thermal Engineering, 94, Tsung-Lin Liu,Chin
 Pan, Infrared thermography measurement of two-phase boiling flow heat transfer in a
microchannel, 568-578, 2016, with permission from Elsevier).
Figure 19 (a) Heat transfer coefficient variation with axial distance in a microchannel (Avionics
H/X) of width 1 mm and depth 1 mm at G = 340.23 kg/m2 s and q = 44,401.1 W/m2,
and (b) boiling flow representation at different vapor quality ranges (Reprinted from
International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 91, Lee, S., Mudawar, I.,
Investigation of flow boiling in large micro-channel heat exchangers in a refrigeration
loop for space applications, 110-129, Copyright (2016), with permission from
Elsevier).
Figure 20 (a) The variation of ratio of boiling flow and single phase heat transfer coefficients
with quality, and (b) flow boiling curve at different mass fluxes in a microchannel and
comparison with Armstrong’s pool boiling correlation (Source: Moriyama et al., 1992,
plots are redrawn from the data taken from original plots).
Figure 21 Heat transfer coefficient variation with vapor quality for R11, HCFC123, R32,
R1234ze(E) and the 50-50 mixture of R32 and R1234ze(E) at different (a) heat and (b)
mass fluxes (red and blue legends are the experimental data of Bao et al. (2000), while
black legends are the experimental data of Azolin et al. (2016)).
Figure 22 Boiling heat transfer coefficient for saturated (G=221 kg/m2.s, Tf,in=91.7 °C) and
subcooled and saturated flow regimes and comparison of experimental and correlation
data of Liu and Garimella (2007) with the correlations available in the literature (plot
redrawn after data taken from the figures of Liu and Garimella, 2007).
Figure 23 Comparison of experimental and predicted heat transfer coefficients in Crew H/X and
Avionics H/X microchannels. Experimental data of Lee and Mudawar (2016) and
correlation of Chen (1966), Lazarek and Black (1982), Liu and Winterton (1991), Tran
et al. (1996), Kandlikar and Balasubramanian (2004), Lee and Mudawar (2005),
Bertsch (2009) and Kim and Mudawar (2013).
Figure 24 Total Pressure drop and heat transfer variation in a microchannel (Dh = 150 m) at
different heat and mass fluxes.
Figure 25 (a) Microchannel evaporator with parameters, and (b) comparison between the
experimental data and the correlations available in the literature
−2 −1 −2
for G = 2500 kg m s , q = 44 W cm (Reprinted from International Journal of Heat
 and Mass Transfer, 98, Huang, H., Borhani, N., John Thome, J.C., Experimental
investigation on flow boiling pressure drop and heat transfer of R1233zd(E) in a multi-
microchannel evaporator, 596-610, Copyright (2016), with permission from Elsevier).
Figure 26 Predicted and experimental heat fluxes (CHF) from different studies and their
comparison (figure is redrawn after data taken from the plot reported in Kandlikar,
2010).
Figure 27 Flow instability map for boiling flow of deionised water in a microchannel of 1 mm
width (Reprinted from International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 98, Yu, Z.,
Yuan, H., Chen, C., Yang, Z., Tan, S., Two-phase flow instabilities of forced
circulation at low pressure in a rectangular mini-channel, 438-447, Copyright (2016),
with permission from Elsevier).
Figure 28 (a) Slug and (b) film flow models (figure redrawn from the figure taken from the
Moriyama et al., 1992).
Figure 29 Boiling flow heat transfer coefficient at different Capillary numbers (Ca), and heat
and mass fluxes in microchannels having width of (a) 65 m, and (b) 110 m (Source:
Moriyama et al., 1992, plots are redrawn from the data taken from original plots).
Figure 30 Three-zone heat transfer model for elongated bubble flow regime in microchannels
comprised of a liquid slug, an elongated bubble and a vapor slug (Reprinted from
International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 47, Thome, J.R., Dupont, V., Jacobi,
A.M., Heat transfer model for evaporation in microchannels. Part I: Presentation of the
model, 3375-3385, 2004, with permission from Elsevier).
Figure 31 Variation of heat transfer coefficients with vapor quality at different heat fluxes for R-
141b (Reprinted from International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow, 31(1), Consolini,
L., Thome, J.R., A heat transfer model for evaporation of coalescing bubbles in micro-
channel flow, 115-125, Copyright (2010), with permission from Elsevier).
Figure 32 Qualitative comparison of numerical prediction for condensation flow regimes in the
microchannel with the experimental visualization data available in the literature
(Coleman and Garimella, 2003; Wu and Cheng, 2005; Hu and Chao, 2007; Kim and
Mudawar, 2012) (Reprinted from International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 65,
Ganapathy, H., Shooshtari, A., Choo, K., Dessiatoun, S., Alshehhi, M., Ohadi, M.
Volume of fluid-based numerical modeling of condensation heat transfer and fluid
 flow characteristics in microchannels, 62-72, Copyright (2013), with permission from
Elsevier).
Figure 33 Comparison for flow patterns between numerical predictions (Chen et al., 2014) and
experimental results (Kim et al., 2012) for boiling flow of FC-72 in a square
microchannels (1mm  1mm) at G = 68 kg/m2.s and q = 8500 W/m2 (Reprinted from
Chemical Engineering and Processing, 76, Chen, S., Yang, Z., Duan, Y., Chen, Y.,
Wu, D., Simulation of condensation flow in a rectangular microchannel, 60-69,
Copyright (2014), with permission from Elsevier).
Figure 34 Numerically predicted flow regime map and its comparison with the experimental
data of Kim et al. (2012) (FC-72 condensation flows in a rectangular channel of 1 mm
hydraulic diameter 1 mm) and Wang et al. (2002) (R134a condensation flows in a
rectangular channel of 1.46 mm hydraulic diameter) (Reprinted from Chemical
Engineering and Processing, 76, Chen, S., Yang, Z., Duan, Y., Chen, Y., Wu, D.,
Simulation of condensation flow in a rectangular microchannel, 60-69, Copyright
(2014), with permission from Elsevier).
Figure 35 Boiling curves for both IMN and RMC at different mass fluxes (Reprinted from
International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 98, Zhang, S., Tang, Y., Yuan, W.,
Zeng, J., Xie, Y., A comparative study of flow boiling performance in the
interconnected microchannel net and rectangular microchannels, 814-823, 2016, with
permission from Elsevier).
Figure 36 (a) Heat transfer coefficient, and (b) pressure drop comparison in IMC and RMC at
different mass fluxes (Reprinted from International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer,
98, Zhang, S., Tang, Y., Yuan, W., Zeng, J., Xie, Y., A comparative study of flow
boiling performance in the interconnected microchannel net and rectangular
microchannels, 814-823, 2016, with permission from Elsevier).
Figure 37 Pressure drops (a) and film heater surface temperature (b) variation with heat fluxes at
different mass fluxes (Tin = 27 °C) for pure water and nanofluids (Source: Xu and Xu,
2012).
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8
Figure 9
Figure 10
Figure 11
Figure 12
Figure 13a
Figure 13b
Figure 14
Figure 15a
Figure 15b
Figure 15c
Figure 16a
Figure 16b
Figure 17
Figure 18
Figure 19a
Figure 19b
Figure 20a
Figure 20b
Figure 21a
Figure 21b
Figure 22
Figure 23n
Figure 24
Figure 25a
Figure 25b
Figure 26
Figure 27
Figure 28
Figure 29a
Figure 29b
Figure 30
Figure 31
Figure 32
Figure 33
Figure 34
Figure 35
Figure 36
Figure 37a
Figure 37b
Table
Table 1 Flow patterns for flow boiling in microchannels
Authors (year)
Lazarek and Black (1958)
Cornwell and Kew (1992)
Lin et al. (2001, 1998)
Zhang et al. (2002)
Chen et al. (2006)
Ribatski et al. (2006)
Revellin et al.(2006, 2007)
Revellin and Thome (2007)
Ong and Thome (2009)
Shiferaw et al. (2009)
Harirchian and Garimella (2009,
2010)
Zhang et al. (2016)
Lee and Mudawar (2016)
Remarks
Nucleate bubbling regime
Observed isolated bubble, confined bubble or plug/slug, and annular flow.
Slug flow was found at low and intermediate vapor qualities.
Bubbly or plug flows were not observed.
Mostly annular flows with a very thin layer of liquid were reported.
Bubbly, dispersed bubble, slug, churn and annular flow.
At a very high vapor velocity a mist flow was observed in the bigger tubes.
In smaller tubes confined bubble flow was reported at a lower vapor and liquid
velocity.
The flow observed was similar to slug flow but with elongated spherical top
and bottom bubbles.
Observed bubbly flow, which disappeared quickly due to its smaller lifespan.
Reported the bubbly flow, slug flow, semi-annular flow and annular flow.
It was also reported that the thin film surrounding the bubbles becomes gets
uniform with a decrease in the diameter.
At higher mass flux earlier annular flow was observed, while bubbly flow
disappeared.
Classified the multiphase flow in microchannels as follows: bubbly flow,
bubbly/slug flow, slug flow, slug/semi-annular flow, semi-annular flow, wavy
annular flow and smooth annular flow.
Developed a diabatic map to classify flows into three types: isolated bubble,
coalescing bubble and annular flow zones.
Reported isolated bubble, coalescing bubble and annular flow.
Confined bubble flow was reported at low q” and with an increases in q”,
elongated bubble, slug, wavy annular, annular flow were encountered.
Bubbly, slug, churn, wispy-annular and annular flow regimes were reported.
Within the channel cross-section vapor bubbles were confined in slug flow and
in confined annular flow.
Reported bubbly flow (q=200 kW/m2), slug flow (q=245 kW/m2), annular flow
(q=425 kW/m2) in a rectangular microchannel at G = 180 kg/m2.s.
xe < 0.36 – Bubbly and slug flow with heat transfer dominated by nucleate
boiling; 0.36 < xe < 0.50 – Annular flow with heat transfer dominated by
convective heat transfer; 0.50 < xe < 0.74 – Annular flow with heat transfer
accompanied by convective heat transfer , liquid film and film evaporation;
xe > 0.74 – Mist flow.
Table 2 Some important correlations for heat transfer coefficients for boiling flow in mini– and micro– channels (used by various
authors for their experimental data comparison).
Author (year) Fluid Microchannel details Heat transfer coefficient correlations Remarks
Lazarek and R113 Smooth stainless-steel Saturated boiling heat transfer is
Black (1958) round tube; strongly dependent on the heat
ID = 3.15 mm flux, while vapor quality had a
negligible effect.
No dependence of the heat
(Saturated boiling flow) transfer coefficient on the local
vapor quality; the heat transfer
coefficient is a function ReLO and
Bo.
Bell and Ghaly
(1973)

Cooper (1984) Nucleate pool boiling

Thome et al.
(1984)

Gungor and Water, Both horizontal and More than 4300 experiments
Winterton Refrigerants, vertical configurations; were conducted.
(1986) R11, R12, ID = 2.95 mm to 32 mm;
R113, R114,
R22 and
ethylene
glycol

If Fr < 0.05, tube is in horizontal position and,

 Author (year) Fluid Microchannel details Heat transfer coefficient correlations Remarks
Liu and Water, Dh = 2.95 to 32 mm Sub cooled boiling flow
Winterton refrigerants,
(1991) and ethylene
glycol

In case of horizontal orientation with Fl  0.05:

Tran et al. R-12 and Dh = 2.40 mm Saturated flow boiling based on

(1996) R113 a circular tube and rectangular
tube; Nucleate boiling regime

Yan and Lin R134a Saturated flow boiling in a

(1998) circular tube

Yu et al. (2002) Water and Dh = 2.98 mm Nucleate boiling dominant

ethylene
glycol
Warrier et al. FC-84 Dh = 0.75 mm Saturated flow boiling in a
(2002) 5 Parallel channels where narrow rectangular channels

Agostini and R134a Dh = 2.01 mm

Bonetemps 11 Parallel channels
(2005)
 Author (year) Fluid Microchannel details Heat transfer coefficient correlations Remarks
Liu and De-ionized Material: Copper block  Degree of subcooling and
Garimella water Microchannel I: velocity, affect the onset of
(2007) 275 m  636 m (width nucleate boiling, but have
 height) with fin little impact on the boiling
thickness of 542 m. curve once it approaches the
where ONB.
Microchannel II:
406 m  542 m (width  Developed a new heat
 height) with fin transfer correlation to predict
thickness of 597 m. the saturated boiling data and
G (kg/m2.s): 319  1283 compared with the
q" (W/cm2): 96  120 correlations available in the
literature, a good agreement
u0 (m/s): 0.33  1.33
was reported.
Bertsch et al. Water, FC–77 ID = 0.16 mm to 2.92 12 different saturating boiling
(2009) and nitrogen mm; fluids
Confinement numbers = Horizontal and vertical
0.3 to 4; configurations;
Mass flux = 20 to 3000 Single and multiple channels in
kgm2 s1; parallel
Heat flux = 4 kWm2 to
1150kWm2; and
TSaturation = –194oC to
97oC.

Sun and Pure R404A, ID = 0.21 mm to 6.5 More than 2500 experiments
Mishima (2009) R407C and mm; were conducted.
R410A and Mass flux = 44 to 1500 Weber number also has
there kg.m2.s1; significant influence on heat
mixtures Heat flux = 5 to 109 transfer coefficient.
including kW.m2.
CO2 and
water.
 Author (year) Fluid Microchannel details Heat transfer coefficient correlations Remarks
Li and Wu Water, Dh = 0.16–3.1 mm,
(2010) refrigerants,
FC-77,
ethanol,
propane, CO2
Ducoulombier CO2 Dh = 0.529 mm
et al. (2011)
if Bo >1.110–4

if Bo <1.110–4

Oh and Son R134a and Dh = 1.77, 3.36 and 5.35

(2011) R22 mm
Costa-Patry and Sub cooled boiling flow
Thome (2013)

h3Z is based on Thome et al.’s (2004) three-zone model, and

hAF from annular flow model of Cioncolini and Thome
(2011).
 Author (year) Fluid Microchannel details Heat transfer coefficient correlations Remarks
Kim and FC72, R11, Dh = 0.19–6.5 mm Sub cooled boiling flow
Mudawar R113, R123, Cross-section /
(2013) R1234yf, orientation: circular,
R1234ze, rectangular, horizontal,
R134a, and vertical upward
R152a, R22, Mass flux: 19 – 1608
R236fa, kg/m2.s
R245fa, R32,
R404A,
R407C,
R410A,
R417A, CO2,
and water

Fang et al. H2O Data was taken from
(2016) different sources and
varying from:
G (kg/m2.s): 17 to 1782
q" (kW/m2): 27.7 to
4788 kW/m2,
x (-): 0.0001 to 0.958,
Dh (mm): 0.207 to
1.73 mm
psat (bar): 1.01 to 16 bar.
For 1055 data points, the
proposed correlation has an
where MAD of 10.1% and an MRD of
0.05.
The new correlation also works
well for R22, R134a, R410A and
NH3.
 Author (year) Fluid Microchannel details Heat transfer coefficient correlations Remarks
Kuznetsov and R-134a Microchannels: 21 Nucleate boiling is the
Shamirzaev Dimension: 20×40 mm2 dominating heat transfer
(2016) Material: copper mechanism.
Fin thickness: 650 μm
Wall roughness (Ra):
1μm.
Highlights

(i) A state of the art literature on boiling flow characteristics in micro-channels was carried out,
(ii) Flow patterns and flow regimes were studied and discussed in detail,
(iii) Boiling flow heat transfer coefficient in microchanels is analyzed and discussed, and
(iv) Process intensification in boiling flow in microchannels have been studied and discussed.

70