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Date of Award

2021

Document Type

Campus Access Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MS)

Administrative Home Department

Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics

Advisor 1

Sajjad Bigham

Committee Member 1

Chunpei Cai

Committee Member 2

Susanta Ghosh

Abstract

Heat removal capabilities of the flow boiling heat sinks are exceptional when considering how efficiently they remove heat from small spaces with low thermal gradients. Flow boiling indicates a great potential as a thermal management solution, but factors such as instabilities, high-pressure drop, and low CHF limit their application. The present study aims to examine these issues with an innovative concept of vapor extraction in flow boiling via membrane-based heat sinks. A hydrophobic membrane is used to scavenge the vapor during the phase-change process, which aids in the flow boiling process's stability—creating an alternate vapor pathway for generated vapor bubbles to escape, thereby decreasing the pressure drop. Another novel feature of the proposed heat sinks is the incorporation of wavy-structured micro-channels. These structured microchannels aid in the vapor extraction phenomenon by creating a resistance to the vapor departure with the liquid flow. Extensive experimentation has been performed to study the performance of these membrane-based micro-channels.

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