ERI: Controlling Flow Boiling Instability in Divergent Microchannel Utilizing Secondary Flow

NSF Award Search · 01002526DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT · $199,999 · view on nsf.gov ↗

Abstract

Overheating of electronic equipment often leads to device failure. As electronic devices are made smaller, removing heat becomes a bigger challenge for designers. A microchannel heat sink is a small device containing many narrow tunnels that can be used to remove heat. Cooling liquid flows through the tunnels and efficiently carries away heat from hot electronic parts. Microchannel heat sinks are especially promising because they have a lot of surface area in a small space. Furthermore, they can use two-phase boiling inside the microchannels to increase the rate of heat removal, as it takes a lot of heat to boil the cooling liquid. However, adopting two-phase boiling in microchannel heat sinks has proven difficult because vapor bubbles that form during boiling can disrupt flow through the microchannels. To address this issue, the team will use both computational and experimental models to understand how flow is disrupted and use the results to design methods to suppress the disruptions. The results from the project will benefit myriad applications, including electric vehicle batteries, power systems, and space thermal control systems. The project will also provide STEM outreach, improved heat transfer courses, and hands-on undergraduate research experiences at a primarily undergraduate institution. A major challenge for microchannel heat sink boiling is instability due to vapor bubble reversal, which leads to pressure and temperature oscillation. The project will suppre

Key facts

NSF award ID
2503828
Awardee
University of South Carolina at Columbia (SC)
SAM.gov UEI
J22LNTMEDP73
PI
TITAN C PAUL
Primary program
01002526DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
All programs
EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES
Estimated total
$199,999
Funds obligated
$199,999
Transaction type
Standard Grant
Period
07/01/2025 → 06/30/2027