An experimental investigation on pressure drop of steam condensing in silicon microchannels

✍ Scribed by Xiaojun Quan; Ping Cheng; Huiying Wu

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 631 KB
• Volume: 51
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0017-9310
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2008.03.028

✦ Synopsis

Experiments are carried out to study the two-phase pressure drop for water vapor condensation in four smooth trapezoidal silicon microchannels having hydraulic diameters of 109 lm, 142 lm, 151 lm, and 259 lm, respectively. It is found that two-phase frictional pressure drops in the microchannels are greatly influenced by the hydraulic diameter, mass flux and vapor quality. The two-phase pressure drop data in microchannels are compared with existing correlations for macro-and mini-channels based on the homogenous model and the separated flow model to determine their applicability to condensing flows in microchannels. A modified correlation for the Matinelli-Chisholm constant, taking into consideration of surface tension and diameter effects, is developed in the form of the Lockhart-Martinelli correlation for the pressure drop in steam condensation in microchannels. The resulting condensation pressure drop correlation equation is within ±15% of the experimental data.