Analysis of the state of-the-art in research of minichannel heat exchangers, especially on the topic of flow maldistribution in multiple channels, has been accomplished. Studies on minichannel plate heat exchanger with 51 parallel minichannels with four hydraulic diameters, i.e., 461 μm, 574 μm, 667 μm, and 750 μm have been presented. Flow at the instance of filling the microchannel with water at low flow rates has been visualized. The...

This paper describes the problem of channel blockage as a result of flow maldistribution between the channels of a model mini channel plate heat exchanger consisting of one pass on each leg. Each leg of the heat exchanger contains 51 parallel and rectangular minichannels of four hydraulic diameters namely 461 μm, 571 μm, 750 μm and 823 μm. In addition, a more complex geometry has been investigated where for the sake of breaking...

A detailed numerical investigation has been carried out to analyze the flow maldistribution in 50 parallel 1 mm × 1 mm rectangular minichannels and 1 mm depth minigap section with rectangular, trapezoidal, triangular or concave manifolds in Z-type flow configuration. The working medium was ethanol and the mass flow rate was 5 × 10−4 kg/s. Both sections were heated from the bottom side. Heat flux of 10 000 W/m2 and 5000 W/m2 was...