Optimal patterned wettability for microchannel flow boiling using the lattice Boltzmann method

Abstract

Microchannel flow boiling is a cooling method studied in microscale heat-cooling, which has become an important field of research with the development of high-density integrated circuits. The change in microchannel surface characteristics affects thermal fluid behavior, and existing studies have optimized heat transfer by changing surf ace wettability characteristics. However, a surface with heterogeneous wettability also has the potential to improve heat transfer. In this case, heat transfer would be optimized by applying the optimal heterogeneous wettability surface to channel flow boiling. In this study, a change in cooling efficiency was observed, by setting a hydrophobic and hydrophilic wettability pattern on the channel surface under the microchannel flow boiling condition, using a lattice Boltzmann method simulation. In the rectangular microchannel structure, the hydrophobic-hydrophilic patterned wettability was oriented perpendicular to the flow direction. The bubble nucleation and the heat transfer coefficient were observed in each case by varying the length of the pattern and the ratio of the hydrophobic-hydrophilic area. It was found that the minimum pattern length in which individual bubbles can occur, and the wettability pattern in which the bubble nucleation-departure cycle is maintained, are advantageous for increasing the efficiency of heat transfer in channel flow boiling.