Investigation of two-phase transport phenomena in microchannels using a microfabricated experimental structure

• Published in: Applied thermal engineering Vol. 27; no. 10; pp. 1728 - 1733
• Main Authors: Wang, Fu-Min, Steinbrenner, Julie E., Hidrovo, Carlos H., Kramer, Theresa A., Lee, Eon Soo, Vigneron, Sebastien, Cheng, Ching-Hsiang, Eaton, John K., Goodson, Kenneth E.
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.07.2007; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Equipments for energy generation and conversion: thermal, electrical, mechanical energy, etc; Exact sciences and technology; Fuel cells; Microchannel; Microfabrication; Temperature sensor; Two-phase flow; Temperature sensor; Microchannel; Two-phase flow; Microfabrication; Fuel cells; Visualization; Two phase flow; Water management; Experimental study; Temperature measurement; Water injection; Manufacturing; Proton exchange membrane fuel cells
• ISSN: 1359-4311
• DOI: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2006.07.014

Microchannels (0.05–1 mm) improve gas routing in proton exchange membrane fuel cells, but add to the complexities of water management. This work microfabricates experimental structures with distributed water injection as well as with heating and temperature sensing capabilities to study water formation and transport. The samples feature optical access to allow visualization and distributed thermometry for investigation of two-phase flow transport phenomena in the microchannels. The temperature evolution along the channel is observed that the temperature downstream of the distributed water injection decreases as the pressure drop increases. As the water injection rate is lower than 200 μl/min, there exists a turning point where temperature increases as the pressure drop increases further. These micromachined structures with integrated temperature sensors and heaters are key to the experimental investigation as well as visualization of two-phase flow and water transport phenomena in microchannels for fuel cell applications.