International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 118 (2018) 1276–1283

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International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhmt

High power density air-cooled microchannel heat exchanger

Beomjin Kwon 1, Nicholas I. Maniscalco 1, Anthony M. Jacobi, William P. King ⇑
Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: We present single-phase heat transfer in a compact cross-flow microchannel heat exchanger, with air
Received 8 August 2017 flowing through the heat exchanger to remove heat from a closed-loop flow of refrigerant R245fa. The
Received in revised form 13 November 2017 1 cm3 heat exchanger was monolithically fabricated from a block of copper alloy using micro-
Accepted 13 November 2017
electrical-discharge machining. Air carrying channels of diameter 520 lm were oriented in cross-flow
to the refrigerant-carrying channels of size 2.0
0.5 mm2. High-speed air flowed with Reynolds number
between 1.2
104 and 2.05
104, which corresponded to air speeds between 20 and 100 m/s, while
Keywords:
refrigerant flowed at Reynolds number between 1000 and 2300. Using an equivalent fin model and finite
Compact heat exchanger
Cross-flow
element simulations, we predicted the heat exchanger performance and used the simulations to interpret
Microchannel the measured behavior. Temperature, pressure, and flow rates were measured over a variety of operating
Micro-electro-discharge machining conditions to determine heat transfer rate, j-factor, and friction factor. We observed a maximum power
Single-phase density of 60 W/cm3 when the air inlet temperature was 27 °C and the refrigerant inlet temperature was
80 °C. The high speed of air flow caused large friction on the air side, resulting in goodness factor j/f near
0.5. This work demonstrates that high power density can be achieved in miniature heat exchangers, and
that micromachined metal devices can enable this performance. The results could be broadly applied to
other types of microchannel devices.
Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction explored microchannels etched into silicon, with feature sizes of

High-flux thermal management is a primary design concern for
advanced computing, communications, and vehicle systems as
their heat fluxes are expected to exceed 1000 W/cm2 [1]. Although
dielectric liquid cooling systems have long been considered for
such high-flux systems, there remains a need for reduced volume
and weight. As a compact and light-weight cooling solution,
microchannel coolant flows have been attractive, because decreas-
ing the hydraulic diameter can lead to significant increases in the
convective heat transfer coefficient and area of the cooling surface
[2]. Furthermore, small-volume heat exchangers help to reduce the
amount of working fluid, and some fluids can cause detrimental
effects on environment [3]. Compact heat exchangers are also
desired for mobile applications, where reduced size and weight
can improve overall performance efficiencies of vehicles.
Over the last few decades, various methods have been
employed to fabricate microchannel heat exchangers [4]. Moti-
vated by integration with electronic systems and the opportunity
to leverage microelectronics fabrication, many early studies
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: wpk@illinois.edu (W.P. King).
1
B. Kwon and N.I. Maniscalco contributed equally to this work.
few hundreds of micrometers [2,5]. The patterned silicon wafers
could also be anodically bonded to assemble perforated-plate heat
exchangers [6]. Recent advancements in micromachining enabled
the use of metal for the microchannel heat exchangers. Microscale
flow passages were created by micromachining thin metal foils
(100 mm thick copper or stainless steel) [7,8] or stainless steel
plates [9] which were then welded or soldered to form cross-
flow heat exchangers. Microfabircation techniques for polymeric
structures such as LIGA [10] or stereolithography [11] could also
create microchannel heat exchangers, although the low thermal
conductivity of polymer was considered a drawback.
Metal microchannel heat exchangers are of interest due to their
high thermal conductivity, strength, and fracture toughness.
Microfabrication in metals has recently become attractive, due to
improvements in accuracy and resolution that can be achieved in
metals microfabrication, along with lowered costs [12,13]. Unlike
conventional silicon microfabrication, which has significant fixed
costs, the economics of micro-manufacturing in metal are attrac-
tive, especially for lower volume applications.
Micro-electro-discharge machining (mEDM) is a meso-scale
manufacturing process that selectively removes an electrically
conductive material by plasma discharge [12]. Combined with an
electrode cutting tool, mEDM provides a high accuracy, relatively

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2017.11.068
0017-9310/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 B. Kwon et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 118 (2018) 1276–1283 1277

high throughput, low-cost setup, and large design freedom. mEDM

can fabricate features smaller than 10 mm in stainless steel and
titanium [14]. When fabricating multiple rows of perforated chan-
nels, mEDM does not require welding of separate plates, which [7–
9,15] may be expensive and result in partially clogged channels
due to imperfect welding [15]. In this study, we demonstrate the
use of mEDM to fabricate high density and high aspect ratio
microchannels into a 1 cm3 cubic copper alloy.
Here, we design and experimentally assess the performance of a
cross-flow microchannel heat exchanger fabricated by mEDM. A
heat transfer model was developed to recommend the diameter,
length, and the number of fluid channels that minimize the pres-
sure gradient while exploiting the benefits of high heat transfer.
The fabricated heat exchanger was experimentally characterized
to demonstrate high-density power and to determine its ther-
mofluidic properties.

2. Modeling heat exchanger performance

Fig. 1(a) shows a schematic of the cross-flow heat exchanger,

which utilizes two unmixed working fluids in a cross flow config-
uration. The heat exchanger has overall dimensions 1 cm
1 cm

Lch,air, where Lch is the channel length along the flow direction, and
the subscript air indicates the air channels. Air flows through the
circular microchannels and a dielectric refrigerant, R245fa, flows
through the rectangular minichannels. The air side has an array
of microchannels with a diameter dair, and a center-to-center spac-
ing s. The refrigerant side has parallel minichannels having a cross
section of 2
0.5 mm2, with each row containing four channels.
Color in Fig. 1(a) shows the temperature distribution predicted
from finite element simulations that are discussed later.
Neglecting the conductive resistance of the thin refrigerant
channel wall, the thermal resistance between the refrigerant and
the air can be modeled as two resistances in series: a convection
thermal resistance on the hot refrigerant side and a fin thermal
resistance on the cold air side (see Fig. 1b) [16]. The fin resistance
accounts for both conduction in the solid heat exchanger and con-
vection between the solid heat exchanger and the air. In the equiv-
alent fin model, heat flows from the refrigerant channel surface (fin
base) to air via the solid heat exchanger (fin). The total thermal
resistance (Rth, total) is
! mRe/dh where m is the fluid kinematic viscosity. With DPfric, for the
1 1 1 air and refrigerant flows, the total pumping power, Ppump, is obtain-
Rth;total ¼ þ
Nf href Aref gf hair Af
where N is the unit number, h is the convective heat transfer coef-
ficient, A is the area for convective heat transfer, and gf is the fin
efficiency. The subscripts ref and f denote the refrigerant channels
and fin, respectively, and in this model NfAf is total air-side area.
A fin parameter (m) is helpful for estimating gf, and is defined m
= [hairpf/kfAc,f]0.5, where p is the perimeter, k is the thermal conduc-
tivity, and Ac is the fin cross-section area. Assuming an adiabatic fin
tip, the fin efficiency can be calculated gf = tanh(mLf)/mLf, where Lf is
the fin length, defined as the distance between the refrigerant chan-
nel wall and the farthest row of the air channels.
Calculating the heat transfer requires the air temperature at
inlet (Tair,i) and outlet (Tair,o) and refrigerant temperature at inlet
(Tref,i) and outlet (Tref,o). For a simplified model, we assumed that
the refrigerant temperature linearly varies along the channel. Our
three-dimensional finite element model (FEM), described below,
predicts that the temperature profile along the refrigerant channel
is nearly linear, which supports this assumption. Then, the outlet
temperatures are estimated as below [17].
T air;o ¼ ½K þ 2ð1  eÞT air;i =ð2 þ KÞ þ 2eT ref ;i =ð2 þ KÞ
Fig. 1. (a) Schematic of the cross-flow heat exchanger and key design parameters.
Color represents the temperature distribution predicted by a finite element model
when Tair,i = 27 °C, Reair = 1000, Tref,i = 60 °C and Reref = 1000. (b) Side view of the
heat exchanger showing modeled thermal resistances. The air side thermal
resistance is modeled as a fin with efficiency gf. (For interpretation of the
references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of
this article.)
T ref ;o ¼ ð2  KÞT ref ;i =ð2 þ KÞ þ 2KT air;i =ð2 þ KÞ ð3Þ
where thermal effectiveness e = 1  exp(1/Rth,totalCair), K = CairC/
Cref, and C is heat capacity rate of the fluid. The heat transfer
between the two fluids is calculated as Q = Cair (Tair,o  Tair,i) = Cref
(Tref,i  Tref,o).
The pressure drop (DP) and the total pumping power (Ppump) of
the channels was modeled using the Darcy-Weisbach equation
[18]. This equation predicts DP due to core friction as
DPfric ¼ 0:5f qu2 Lch =dh ð4Þ
where f is the friction factor, q is the fluid density, u is the axial
velocity, and dh is the hydraulic diameter. The axial velocity is u =
ð1Þ
able as Ppump = (NAcuDPfric)air + (NAcuDPfric)ref.
Several thermofluid correlations are necessary to predict the
friction factors and convective heat transfer coefficients. The model
assumes that the air flow Re is in the range 1000  Reair  2.0

104. We estimate the friction factor based on the Petukhov correla-
tion, f = (0.790lnRe  1.64)2, and Nu based on the Dittus-Boelter
correlation, Nu = 0.023Re0.8Pr0.4 for fully developed turbulent flow
[19]. For the refrigerant flow, the model assumes Re near 1000.
We predict the friction factor and Nu using the Phillips correlations
for laminar developing flow in the entrance region of a rectangular
duct [5].
We also used a three-dimensional FEM (COMSOL Multiphysics)
to simulate the thermofluidic characteristics and performance of
the heat exchanger. FEM calculates an energy balance equation
for an internal incompressible fluid flow
qAc;ch cp u  rT ¼ r  Ac;ch krT þ hpðT w  TÞ ð5Þ
where cp is the heat capacity at constant pressure and the subscripts
ch and w denote the channel and channel wall, respectively. This
equation states that the volumetric energy change is equal to the
sum of the conductive heat transfer within the fluid and the convec-
ð2Þ
tive heat transfer through the channel wall. In addition to the
1278 B. Kwon et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 118 (2018) 1276–1283

energy balance equation, the FEM calculates a continuity equation

and momentum ‘including the pressure drop due to viscous shear.
The boundary conditions were Tair,i = 27 °C, Tref,i = 60 °C, and Reref
= 1000. Reair was varied between 1000 and 6000. For simplification,
the Reynolds number evaluated at the channel inlet represents Re
for each flow condition, since Re may not be constant along the
channel. The FEM used the same thermofluid correlations as the
equivalent fin model (EFM).

3. Heat exchanger design

We predicted the heat exchanger performance in order to

select design parameters such as diameter (dair), length (Lch,air)
of the air channels, and the number of refrigerant channel rows
(Nref). The model assumed the spacing between air channels (s)
as 1.25dair to ensure a reasonable fabrication tolerance. To validate
EFM, we compared its prediction to the FEM calculation. Fig. 2
shows the predicted outlet temperature (To), pressure drop (DP),
and total thermal resistance (Rth, total) as a function of Reair. For this
calculation, we assumed dair = 500 mm, Lch,air = 10 mm, and Nref = 2.
As the air flow rate increases, Tair,o and Tref,o decrease slightly due
to the decrease of Rth, total. Overall, the EFM agrees well with FEM,
although it exhibits a deviation of 20–30% in Rth, total. The EFM
may underestimate Rth,total because it models the fin as straight
and rectangular, rather than with the actual geometry that fea-
tures a longer conduction path. Fig. 1(a) shows the temperature Fig. 2. Comparison between the equivalent fin model (line) and finite element
distribution is not one-dimensional, but instead there is some model (symbols) when the air channel diameter is 500 mm, air channel length is 10
temperature variation across the width of the heat exchanger. mm and the number of refrigerant channel rows is two. Temperature at the channel
Nevertheless, the EFM does reasonably well in modeling the heat exits, pressure drop, and total thermal resistance as a function of Reair.

exchanger performance and can be used to aid in choosing design

parameters.
Fig. 3 shows the heat exchanger performance as a function of
the air channel diameter (dair) calculated by EFM, for several values
of Reair. This calculation assumes Lch,air = 10 mm and Nref = 2. As dair
decreases, both the convection coefficient and surface area density
increase, and consequently the heat transfer per volume (Q 000 )
increases. However, when dair decreases below 200 mm, the pres-
sure drop substantially increases for the corresponding Reair,
resulting in a large pumping power (Ppump) and poor heat transfer
efficiency (Q/Ppump).
Fig. 4 shows the effect of the air channel length (Lch,air) on the
heat exchanger performance when dair = 500 mm and Nref = 2. As
Lch,air increases, Q 000 decreases and pressure drop increases, leading
to the decrease of Q/Ppump. In a cross-flow heat exchanger, the
longer channel length results in smaller the mean temperature dif-
ference between the hot and cold fluids which results in reduced
Q 000 .
Fig. 5 shows the heat exchanger performance with varied num-
ber of refrigerant channels when dair = 500 mm and Lch,air = 10 mm.
When Nref decreases, the heat exchanger possess more air channels
but fewer refrigerant channels. Thus, the thermal resistance ratio
of the air side and the refrigerant side is affected by Nref. This pre-
diction shows that the thermal resistance ratio is close to unity
when Nref = 2, and Rth,total is the minimum when Nref = 3. The max-
imum Q 000 occurs when Nref is either 2 or 3 depending on Reair.
The modeling results of Figs. 3–5 provide overall guidance on
the heat exchanger design. To achieve a large Q 000 and small DP,
the air channels must be short and have a reasonably small diam-
eter. Furthermore, the thermal resistance match between the air
and refrigerant channels is important to determine the number
of fluid channels. We therefore selected dair = 500 mm, Lch,air = 10
Fig. 3. Calculated performance of the heat exchanger as a function of the air
mm, and Nref = 2. We chose to operate the air side near Reair = channel diameter when the air channel length is 10 mm and the number of
10000, which supports high heat transfer while allowing operation refrigerant channel rows is two. The plots show power density (Q 000 ), heat rate per
within the air pressure available in our test facility (<1 MPa). pumping power, pumping power, pressure drop, and total thermal resistance.
 B. Kwon et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 118 (2018) 1276–1283
Fig. 4. Calculated performance matrices of the heat exchanger as a function of the
air channel length when the air channel diameter is 500 mm and the number of
refrigerant channel rows is two. Power density, heat rate per pumping power, and
pressure drop.
Fig. 5. Calculated performance matrices of the heat exchanger as a function of the
number of refrigerant channel rows when the air channel diameter is 500 mm and
the air channel length is 10 mm. Power density, heat rate per pumping power, and
total thermal resistance.
1279
4. Experiment
We fabricated the heat exchanger using mEDM. The heat
exchanger material is copper alloy C14500, which is 0.4% tellurium
by weight. As compared to pure copper, C14500 is easy to machine
and still exhibits a high thermal conductivity of 355 W/m K [20].
The fabrication employed a carbon electrode tool having the
inverse shape of the desired channel geometry. Fig. 6(a) and (b)
shows the fabricated heat exchanger which contains 150 air chan-
nels and 8 refrigerant channels. We measured the key dimensions
using a calibrated microscope. The air channel diameter is 520 mm
± 57 mm, center-to-center spacing is 640 mm ± 16 mm, and channel
surface roughness (e) is about 2 mm. Thus, the relative roughness
(e/dair) corresponds to 0.004. For the refrigerant channel, the rel-
ative roughness is 0.0025. To integrate the heat exchanger into
the test facility, a manifold was designed as shown in Fig. 6(c).
The manifold consists of steel cage and interface structures made
of garolite. At each part that connects the heat exchanger and fluid
tubes, a port exists to install a thermocouple.
Fig. 6(d) shows the setup for characterizing the heat exchanger
which includes an air supply and a refrigerant loop. In the air sup-
ply, compressed air at 27 °C enters a regulator that controls the
upstream pressure up to 862 kPa. Then, after flowing through a
Coriolis-effect mass flow meter, with an uncertainty of ±1%, and
the heat exchanger, air is exhausted to the laboratory. The refriger-
ant loop supplies refrigerant to the heat exchanger at the desired
flow rate and temperature. A pump circulates the refrigerant and
its mass flow rate is controlled by changing the pump motor speed.
The mass flow rate is measured using a Coriolis-effect mass flow
meter with an uncertainty of ±0.1%. Before entering the heat
exchanger, the refrigerant is heated to either 60 °C or 80 °C by an
evaporator, and after exiting the heat exchanger, the refrigerant
is subcooled using a condenser. T-type thermocouples are used
to measure the temperature and pressure transducers provide
the pressures both upstream and downstream of the test section.
The thermocouples are calibrated using an ice-point bath to
improve the relative uncertainty to ±0.1 °C. The nominal uncer-
tainty of the pressure transducers is ±0.25% of full scale, which is
equivalent to the uncertainty of ±1.7 kPa for air flow measurement
and ±17 Pa for refrigerant flow measurement.
The heat transfer coefficients, hair and href, were calculated using
the Wilson plot method [21]. When evaluating hair, we changed the
refrigerant flow rate while holding the air flow rate fixed and mea-
suring the heat loads for both fluids. Similarly, to estimate href, the
air flow rate was changed and the refrigerant flow rate was con-
stant. The heat transfer coefficients were calculated as
air Pr air ðlair =lair;w Þ
1=3 0:14
hair ¼ c1 ðkair =dair ÞRe0:8 ð6Þ
href ¼ c2 ðkref =dref ÞðReref Prref dref =Lch;ref Þ 3 ðlref =lref ;w Þ0:14
c
ð7Þ
where c1, c2, c3 are unknown coefficients, Pr is the Prandtl number,
and l is dynamic viscosity. dref is the hydraulic diameter. To solve
the unknown coefficients, we combine Eqs. (1), (6), and (7) as
follows.
1 ðhair gf Af =c1 Þ 1
Rth;total ðhair gf Af =c1 Þ ¼ þ ð8Þ
c2 ðhref Aref =c2 Þ c1
As Eq. (8) is in a linear form of Y = X/c2 + 1/c1, the slope and y-axis
intercept of the Wilson plot line correspond to 1/c2 and 1/c1, respec-
tively. An iterative regression of Eq. (8) determines all the
unknowns if Rth,total is available from the experimental data by
Rth,total = FDTlm/Q, where F is a correction factor for cross-flow
heat exchanger with both flows unmixed [22], and DTlm is the
logarithmic mean temperature difference. Q is obtainable from
Q = Cair (Tair,o  Tair,i) = Cref (Tref,i  Tref,o). The above procedure
1280 B. Kwon et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 118 (2018) 1276–1283

Fig. 6. (a, b) Images of heat exchanger, showing front and side views, and detail of
the air channels. (c) Assembly of the heat exchanger in the manifold. (d) Schematic
of a test setup for the heat exchanger.

provided c1 = 0.028, c2 = 1.36, and c3 = 0.5. The Wilson plot method

is accurate when employed for fully developed flow. To account for
the developing flow, a correction factor for a laminar flow in a
circular tube [24] can be applied, and this correction requires
knowledge of the channel wall temperature. For thermally develop-
ing laminar flow (100 < Re < 1400), the correction factor modifies
the heat transfer coefficient by 4–20%.
In order to calculate friction factor, we considered pressure drop
for a pipe flow. The total pressure drop (DP) is the sum of the pres-
sure drops by an entrance effect (DPent), an exit effect (DPexi), flow
acceleration (DPacc), and friction (DPfric). Based on the channel
geometry, flow rate, and fluid density, it is possible to estimate
DPent, DPexi, and DPacc [16,23]. Thus, DPfric = DP  DPent  DPexi  Fig. 7. Fluid flow characteristics of the (a) air channels and (b) refrigerant channels
DPacc. Then, the friction factor is determined by [23] as a function of Re when Tair,i = 27 °C. Pressure drop (top) and Fanning friction factor
(bottom).
f ¼ DPfric ðq=G2 ÞðAc;ch =AÞ ð9Þ
where G is the mass flux of the channel.
density variation is much more significant in the air channels. DPent
5. Results and discussion and DPexi are comparatively small in air channels; however, DPent is
comparable to DPfric in the refrigerant flow due to a small ratio of
We evaluated the heat exchanger characteristics and perfor- cross-section area to the frontal area of the refrigerant channels
mance when Reair varied between 12000 and 20500 and Reref var- (0.09). The use of flow distributer would help to reduce DPent in
ied between 1000 and 2300. Fig. 7 shows the pressure drop (DP) the refrigerant flow [25]. The measured f in the air channels is
and friction factor (f) as a function of Re. Fig. 7 also shows separate about an order of magnitude larger than those estimated by Petu-
components of the pressure drop, calculated from models. The khov correlation for fully developed turbulent flow [19] as well as
pressure drop due to core friction (DPfric) is the primary factor in by the Colebrook correlation [19]. However, the measured f com-
both air and refrigerant channels. DPacc is not negligible in air pares well with the f calculated by the Fanno model for an isother-
channels in contrast to refrigerant channels, indicating that the mal compressible flow [26], indicating that the air density change
 B. Kwon et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 118 (2018) 1276–1283 1281

Fig. 9. Goodness factor, j/f, of the (a) air channels (Tair,i = 27 °C) and (b) refrigerant
channels (Tref,i = 60 °C) as a function of inlet Reynolds number.

Table 1
Thermofluidic correlations used by the equivalent fin model.

Air flow Refrigerant flow

Re 12,000–20,500 1000–2300
Flow type Turbulent Laminar
Friction coefficient Pertukhov correlation –
(channel design)
Friction coefficient Fanno model
(comparison to
experimental data)
Convection heat transfer Dittus-Boelter Phillips correlation
coefficient (channel correlation
design)
Convection heat transfer Experimentally Experimentally
coefficient reduced values reduced values
(comparison to (Modified Wilson plot (Modified Wilson plot
experimental data) method) method)
Fig. 8. Heat transfer characteristics of the (a) air channels and (b) refrigerant
channels as a function of Reynolds number when Tair,i = 27 °C. Convection heat
transfer coefficient (top) and Colburn j-factor (bottom).

and Gnielinski correlations. The original forms of these correlations

along the channel length is not negligible. In the refrigerant chan-
nel, the measured f agrees with the Curr correlation for developing
laminar flow in rectangular channel (aspect ratio = 0.25) [27] and
Colebrook correlation. The roughness of the channel wall can cause
an increase in f or an early transition to turbulence, and this was
not observed in the measurements. The roughness effect mostly
affects incompressible turbulent flows [28,29] even when the rela-
tive roughness is smaller than 0.5%.
Fig. 8 shows the convection heat transfer coefficient (h) and
j-factor as a function of Re. For the air flow, measured hair and
j-factor compare well with the predictions of the Dittus-Boelter
are for fully developed turbulent flow in circular tubes. Since the
air flow is a developing flow, correction factors were applied
[30]. Approximately, the thermal entry length in the air channel
is 10dair = 5 mm; thus, about a half of the channel length is sub-
ject a convection coefficient larger than that predicted by correla-
tions for fully developed flow. For the refrigerant flow, measured
href and j-factor are close to or greater than the Phillips [5] and
Shah-London [30] correlations for developing laminar flow in rect-
angular channels. The discrepancy between the correlations is due
to the different local Nusselt number at the entrance region. The
entrance Nusselt number is 26.7 by the Phillips correlation while
1282 B. Kwon et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 118 (2018) 1276–1283

Fig. 10 shows the power density (Q 000 ) as a function of either

Reynolds number or pumping power (Ppump). Here, EFM employs
the experimentally obtained thermofluidic properties such as f
and h. Table 1 lists the empirical correlations used by the EFM.
Over the range of the Reynolds numbers employed, Q 000 is 20–40
W/cm3 when Tref,i = 60 °C and is 40–60 W/cm3 when Tref,i = 80 °C.
The enhancement of Q 000 is more pronounced by the increase of
the refrigerant flow rate than the adjustments of the air flow rate,
indicating that the decrease of the refrigerant-side Rth more helps
to reduce the mismatch of Rth between the working fluids. As com-
pared to our predictions of the heat exchanger performance in
Figs. 3–5, measured Q 000 is larger by more than 20%. The enhance-
ment of Q 000 is primarily due to the large value of hair benefiting
from the thermally developing region existing over the large por-
tion of the air channels. To leverage the large convection efficiency
of the thermally developing flow, it is, therefore, interesting to
design the channel short. Fig. 10(c) shows that the increase of Ppump
results in a slight increase of Q 000 . Here, the change of Ppump is
mainly related to the variation of the air flow rate instead of the
refrigerant flow rate, thus it did not influence Q 000 much similar to
the result of Fig. 10(a).

6. Conclusions

In conclusion, we report a cross-flow microchannel heat

exchanger of size 1 cm3 and capable of heat transfer up to 60 W.
The heat exchanger was monolithically fabricated from a block of
copper alloy using lEDM. Air channels of diameter 520 lm carried
air flows of velocity 20–100 m/s, which corresponded to Reair of
1.2
104 to 2.05
104. Rectangular channels of size 0.5
2 mm
carried refrigerant R245fa, which corresponded to Reref of 1000–
2300. The heat exchanger exhibited a maximum power density
of 60 W/cm3 when the air flow at inlet had temperature of 27 °C
and Reair was 20,500 while the refrigerant flow at inlet had temper-
ature of 80 °C and Reref of 2300. The implementation of a high-
speed compressible air flow in microchannels with a short length
(thermal entry length) permitted the exceptionally high heat
transfer coefficients (>2000 W/m2 K). In addition, the optimized
numbers of air channels (Nair = 150) and refrigerant channels (Nref
= 8) helped to match the thermal resistances between the working
fluids and to reduce the total thermal resistance below 5 K/W. This
work helps to understand the heat transfer in compact microchan-
nel devices, and demonstrate a high-power-density of a microma-
chined metal heat exchanger.

Fig. 10. Heat exchanger power density (Q 000 ) as a function of (a) Air side Reynolds Acknowledgment
number Reair, (b) Refrigerant side Reynolds number Reref, and (c) pumping power
Ppump.
We gratefully acknowledge support from the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency. This work was also supported by the
National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for
Power Optimization of Electro Thermal Systems (POETS) with
it is 20 by the Shah-London correlation. The entrance region
cooperative agreement EEC-1449548.
effects become more important at higher Reynolds numbers, in
part explaining the increasing h value with Reynolds number.
Fig. 9 shows the area goodness factor (j/f) as a function of the
Conflict of interest
Reynolds number. The ratio j/f is about 0.047 for the air flow and
about 0.47 for the refrigerant flow. The ratio j/f based on measure-
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
ments is relatively larger than j/f obtained by correlations mostly
due to the discrepancy in j-factor. In both channels, j/f increases
with the Reynold number, indicating that the flow is not fully Appendix A. Supplementary material
developed. For enhancing j/f particularly in the air channels, oper-
ating in the incompressible regime is a possible method, as this Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in
would lower f. However, reducing the air flow rate should be well the online version, at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.
balanced between j/f gain and the heat transfer rate loss. 2017.11.068.
 B. Kwon et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 118 (2018) 1276–1283 1283

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