In this study, we investigated the behavior of two-phase flow distribution inside a vertical header of a microchannel heat exchanger (MCHX) that functions as an evaporator of a heat pump system. In general, the two-phase flow distribution behavior of the refrigerant differs depending on the target application, which ranges from small-scale automobile air-conditioners to large-scale building heat pump systems. Particularly, it is reported that the distribution characteristics in the vertical header of the MCHX vary extensively according to the inlet flow conditions of the refrigerant and the physical profile of the header. In this study, the physical configurations (header height, branch tube diameter) of four types of vertical headers were considered. Thereafter, the operating conditions in an experimental device that simulates an MCHX with a vertical header were selected. The experiment was performed under R410A as the working fluid, with a saturation temperature of 15 °C, inlet mass flow rate of 50–150 kg h−1 (mass flux of 908–2723 kg m−2 s−1), and an inlet vapor quality of 0.1–0.2. The liquid and vapor flow ratios and the relative standard deviation were adopted as metrics to characterize the uniformity of flow distribution. The distribution characteristics were subsequently described according to Reynolds and Froude numbers. The larger the Reynolds number and the smaller the Froude number, the more uniform the two-phase flow distribution becomes. A correlation was proposed as a function of the Reynolds and Froude numbers to predict the flow distribution characteristics for the considered vertical headers.

In this study, a technique that uses a capacitance sensor with an asymmetric electrode to measure the void fraction of a refrigerant was developed. It is known that the void fraction and flow pattern affect the measured capacitance. Therefore, the relationship between the void fraction and capacitance is not linear; hence, a calibration method for obtaining accurate measurements is necessary. A calibration method was designed in this study based on repeated capacitance measurements and the bimodal temporal distribution to calibrate the atypical and repetitive flow patterns of slug flow and its transition to the intermittent flow regime. The calibration method also considers the weighted-average relation for the gradual transition of the intermittent to annular flow pattern according to the change from low to high quality. The proposed method was experimentally analyzed under the conditions of R32 refrigerant, a tube inner diameter of 7.1 mm, saturation temperature of 25 degrees C, mass flux of 100-400 kg m(-2) s(-1), and vapor quality of 0.025-0.900, and it was validated using a quick-closing valve (QCV) system under identical conditions. A relative error of 2.99% was obtained for the entire system, indicating good agreement between the proposed and QCV-based methods.

A general variational formulation of the dissipative two-phase flows based on the extremization of the entropy production is developed. The entropy generation rate is written outside phase equilibrium by introducing interfacial contributions due to surface tension as well as heat and mass transfer between the two phases. Prigogine's theorem of minimum entropy production is used to estimate the steady state void fraction of the two-phase flow. The corresponding flow representation is investigated out of phase equilibrium for an annular flow, experiencing friction, surface tension effects, and interphase heat and mass transfer, within a diabatic channel. It is demonstrated that the present formulation generalises previous theories by capturing the effect of mass and heat fluxes variations, and that the widely accepted expression from Zivi represents a particular case obtained under certain simplifying assumptions. Finally, a first validation of the developed formulation of two-phase void fraction is presented for different flow conditions, heat flux from the external environment, and thermophysical properties of the refrigerant with reference to data obtained from a dedicated experimental apparatus adopting a capacitance sensor and from previous literature. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Among the noncontact measurement technologies used to acquire thermal property information, those that use the photothermal effect are attracting attention. However, it is difficult to perform measurements for new materials with different optical and thermal properties, owing to limitations of existing thermal conductivity measurement methods using the photothermal effect. To address this problem, this study aimed to develop a rear-side mirage deflection method capable of measuring thermal conductivity regardless of the material characteristics based on the photothermal effect. A thin copper film (of 20 mu m thickness) was formed on the surfaces of the target materials so that measurements could not be affected by the characteristics of the target materials. In addition, phase delay signals were acquired from the rear sides of the target materials to exclude the influence of the pump beam, which is a problem in existing thermal conductivity measurement methods that use the photothermal effect. To verify the feasibility of the proposed measurement technique, thermal conductivity was measured for copper, aluminum, and stainless steel samples with a 250 mu m thickness. The results were compared with literature values and showed good agreement with relative errors equal to or less than 0.2%.

Photothermal therapy can serve as an alternative to classic surgery in the treatment of patients with cancer. However, using photothermal therapy can result in local overheating and damage to normal tissues. Therefore, it is important to determine effective heating conditions based on heat transfer. In this study, we analyzed laser-tissue interactions in gold nanoparticle (GNP)-enhanced photothermal therapy based on the theory of heat transfer. The thermal behavior inside tissues during photothermal therapy was analyzed using numerical analysis. The apoptosis ratio was defined by deriving the area having a temperature distribution between 43 degrees C and 50 degrees C, which is required for inducing apoptosis. Thermal damage, caused by local heating, was defined using the thermal hazard value. Using this approach, we confirmed that apoptosis can be predicted with respect to tumor size (aspect ratio) and heating conditions (laser intensity and radius) in photothermal therapy with a continuous-wave laser. Finally, we determined the effective apoptosis ratio and thermal hazard value of normal tissue according to tumor size and heating conditions, thereby establishing conditions for inducing maximal levels of cell apoptosis with minimal damage to normal tissue. The optimization conditions proposed in this study can be a gentle and effective treatment option for photothermal therapy.

Analyzing the quality of images generated from an imaging method is essential for determining the limits and applicability of that method. This study analyzed the quality of images resulting from a photothermal imaging method by applying the line spread function and the modulation transfer function to the spatial resolution and contrast, on the basis of certain parameters of the photothermal imaging method for a copper-resin double-layered structure. The parameters are the ratio of the first-layer thickness to the thermal diffusion length ( and the ratio of the pump-beam radius to the thermal diffusion length ( ). The phase delay profile (edge response function, ERF) of the subsurface structure derived from the photothermal imaging method becomes dimensionless upon division by the thermal diffusion length; as the ratio increases, the spatial resolution and contrast increase.

The photothermal imaging technique is a nondestructive inspection technique that visualizes the inside of a metal by utilizing the photothermal effect. Although the concept of photothermal imaging techniques has been proposed, systematic research on the characteristics thereof has not been conducted. This study attempts to enhance the measurement and reconstruction process for a photothermal imaging method. To detect the edge of a subsurface pattern more accurate, low-pass FFT (fast Fourier transform) filter for noise reduction of measured data, and derivative detectors are adopted for the reconstruction of photothermal imaging. The adopted methods are applied to and visualize 20mmx25mmx1.5mm copper block including radius 5mm, height 1mm cylindrical resin as a subsurface pattern. The results show that the developed method can detect the edge of the resin subsurface 50% more accurately than the previous reconstruction method for photothermal imaging.

Transparent anisotropic materials have garnered attention along with the growth of the semiconductor and display industries. Transparent anisotropic materials have the characteristic of varying electrical, optical, and thermal properties based on their crystal orientation, and many studies are being conducted on this topic. In order to utilize transparent anisotropic materials properly, thermal properties such as thermal conductivity are essentially required. However, due to the limitations of the existing thermal property measurement methods for transparent anisotropic materials, it is difficult to provide the thermal properties of transparent anisotropic materials. To address this problem, a transparent anisotropic collinear method capable of measuring the effective thermal conductivity of a transparent anisotropic material according to its crystal orientation is proposed in this paper. To this end, the internal temperature distribution of a transparent anisotropic material and the phase delay of the probe beam were theoretically derived through a numerical analysis model that uses a three-dimensional heat conduction equation. This model was applied to anisotropic thermal conductivity with orthorhombic structure. To verify the proposed method of measuring the thermal conductivity of a transparent anisotropic material, the thermal properties of 3 mm-thick A-plane sapphire glass were measured and compared with those of the existing literature. It was confirmed that the absolute errors were less than about 4 W/mk.

Imaging techniques for internal visualization of materials have become increasingly important in a wide range of industrial fields. Imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) employing X-rays have existed for quite some time. However, such classic techniques have physical limitations (for e.g., X-rays cannot penetrate high-density materials such as metals) because they were developed as medical applications. Therefore, alternative techniques for industrial fields should be explored. Photothermal imaging was explored from the perspective of visualization of the interior of metals as photothermal effects depend on the thermal properties of the materials. To establish photothermal imaging as a reliable technique, it is important to analyze the physical limitations and noise in the measurement. Therefore, in this study, the conditions leading to a minimum level of noise were explored using aluminum 6061 specimens of five surface roughness values under conditions of different pump beam frequencies and radii. In this work, surface roughness and pump beam frequency and radius were considered important parameters affecting photothermal imaging. Finally, comprehensive criteria to reduce signal noise in photothermal imaging were proposed.

Visualization and imaging techniques have become increasingly essential in a wide range of industrial fields. A few imaging methods such as X-ray imaging, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging have been developed for medical applications to materials that are basically transparent or X-ray penetrable; however, reliable techniques for optically opaque materials such as semiconductors or metallic circuits have not been suggested yet. The photothermal method has been developed mainly for the measurement of thermal properties using characteristics that exhibit photothermal effects depending on the thermal properties of the materials. This study attempts to numerically investigate the feasibility of using photothermal effects to visualize or measure the material distribution of opaque substances. For this purpose, we conducted numerical analyses of various intaglio patterns with approximate sizes of 1.2-6 mm in stainless steel 0.5 mm below copper. In addition, images of the intaglio patterns in stainless steel were reconstructed by two-dimensional numerical scanning. A quantitative comparison of the reconstructed results and the original geometries showed an average difference of 0.172 mm and demonstrated the possibility of application to experimental imaging.

Recently, study of transparent materials, such as thin film form, have an important field for the development of advanced electronic devices. Therefore, the need for the precision thermal property measurement techniques of transparent thin film materials becomes increasing according to the development of these material. The ideal methods for optically measurements of these properties are noncontact method. However, optically measurements are often difficult due to the transparency. So, transparent materials have not enough temperature gradient in the air layer above thin films. To solve this problem, we used the collinear deflection method which is one of the photothermal deflection methods. In the measurement process, both of the pump beam and probe beam are irradiated vertically on the transparent sample. And the probe beam is deflected by refractive index variation of samples due to the temperature gradient inside samples. The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of thermal and optical properties analytically on the collinear deflection method for variable materials. © (2013) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.