Specific Features of Flow in Micro-Channels

In experiments related to flow and heat transfer in micro-channels, some parameters, such as the flow rate and channel dimensions are difficult to measure accurately because they are very small. For a single-phase flow in micro-channels the uncertainty of ARe is (Guo and Li 2002,2003) 

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Specific Features of Flow in Micro-Channels liquid temperature ... 

We begin the comparison of experimental data with predictions of the conventional theory for results related to flow of incompressible fluids in smooth micro-channels. For liquid flow in the channels with the hydraulic diameter ranging from 10 m to 10 m the Knudsen number is much smaller than unity. Under these conditions, one might expect a fairly good agreement between the theoretical and experimental results. On the other hand, the existence of discrepancy between those results can be treated as a display of specific features of flow, which were not accounted for by the conventional theory. Bearing in mind these circumstances, we consider such experiments, which were performed under conditions close to those used for the theoretical description of flows in circular, rectangular, and trapezoidal micro-channels. 

The details of the specific features of the heat transfer coefficient, and pressure drop estimation have been covered throughout the previous chapters. The objective of this chapter is to summarize important theoretical solutions, results of numerical calculations and experimental correlations that are common in micro-channel devices. These results are assessed from the practical point of view so that they provide a sound basis and guidelines for the evaluation of heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of single-phase gas-liquid and steam-liquid flows. 

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