DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the report of the course ME892 Seminar titled Heat Transfer Through
Microchannels and their Applications which is being submitted to the National Institute of
Technology, Karnataka, Surathkal, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the
Degree of Master of Technology in the department of Mechanical Engineering is a bonafide
report of the work carried out by me. It contains no material previously published or written by
another person nor material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the award of
any other degree or diploma of the university or other institute of higher learning except where
due acknowledgment has been made in the text.

222TH015

Rameshkumar R

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Place: NITK, Surathkal

Date: 01-04-2023

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 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the seminar report titled ‘submitted by Rameshkumar R (Roll. No:
222TH015) as a record of the seminar presented by him is accepted as the seminar report
submission in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of MASTER OF
TECHNOLOGY IN THERMAL ENGINEERING in the Department of MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING, National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal.

Dr. Veershetty Gumtapure

Associate professor

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I owe special debt of gratitude to Dr. Veershetty Gumtapure, Department of Mechanical

Engineering, NITK Surathkal, for instructing me through the course of ME892 seminar and
also for allowing me to work on the topic of Heat Transfer Through Microchannels and their
Applications.

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 NOMENCLATURE

TIT turbine inlet temperatures

Cp specific heat capacity at constant pressure

Cv specific heat capacity at constant volume

AspenTM software name

GE General Electric

LMS100 gas turbine model

MW megawatt

COT Combustor Outlet Temperature

FAR Fuel/Air Ratio

kW Kilowatt

MW Megawatt

HP Horsepower

RPM Revolutions Per Minute

ABBREVIATIONS

HX Heat Exchanger

EMS Electro Mechanical Systems

MHE Micro Heat Exchanger

LED Light Emitting Diode

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER CONTENT PAGE NO

I. Declaration ⅰ

II. Certificate ⅱ

III. Acknowledgement ⅲ

IV. Nomenclature ⅳ

V. Abbreviations ⅳ

VI. Abstract ⅷ

1. Introduction 09

2. Literature review 10

3 Intercooling for systems 12

3.1 Introduction to intercooling 13

3.2 Need for intercooling 13

4. Thermodynamic modelling of air cooled gas turbines 15

4.1 Cycle scheme 15

4.2 Model of cooled turbine storage 16

4.3 Model for estimating coolant flow rates 16

4.4 Results and discussion 18

5 Thermodynamic model of gas turbine with intercooling 21

5.1 Cycle scheme 21

5.2 Results and discussions 21

6 Conclusion 25

References 26

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 LIST OF FIGURES

S. No FIGURE Page
01 Intercooling in Multistage compression 13
02 Scheme of Air-cooled Gas Turbines 15

03 Equation used to construct the simulation model 16

04 Equation used to construct the simulation model 17

05 Schematic representation of Heat transfer model 18

06 Efficiency of the simple cycle with gc = gt = 90% 20
07 Schematic diagram of gas turbine with intercooler. 21
08 Efficiency of the intercooled cycle with gc = gt = 90% 22

09 Specific power of cycle with intercooler 23

10 Efficiency of cycle with IC at TIT = 1500 C for varying 23

intercooling temperature

11 Efficiency of cycle with IC at TIT = 1500 C for varying 24

intercooling pressure ratio

LIST OF TABLES

S.NO TABLE PAGE NO.

1 Characteristic values of Heat transfer model 19
2 Characteristic values for cycle simulations 19

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 ABSTRACT

With the advancement of technology in various sectors, there is a growing trend towards
miniaturization. Therefore, it is important to effectively remove high heat flux from highly
compact systems such as high-performance computer chips, laser diodes, and nuclear reactors
to ensure their longevity and consistent performance. Microchannels and mini-channels are
ideal for this task, as they provide a large surface area for heat transfer per unit fluid flow
volume, resulting in a high heat transfer rate. These channels can be utilized in various
applications, such as turbine blades, rocket engines, hybrid vehicles, hydrogen storage,
refrigeration cooling, thermal control in microgravity, and capillary pump loops. The heat
dissipation requirement varies depending on the application, but it is expected to increase with
further technological advancements and reductions in the size of these applications. Thus,
microchannel heat sinks are becoming a promising solution to 21st-century cooling problems.
In recent years, microchannel heat exchangers have been used in refrigeration and air
conditioning because they offer a larger heat transfer area per unit volume and are smaller and
lighter than conventional heat exchangers. Microchannel heat exchangers are more effective
for performance enhancement than cross fin and tube heat exchangers in residential air-
conditioners, and they also help reduce refrigerant quantities. To replace all-aluminium parallel
flow heat exchangers in air conditioning systems, improvements in anti-corrosion technology
and product application flexibility are necessary.

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