Study on Pressure Drop of Flow Boiling in a Rectangular Microchannel

An experimental investigation on the flow boiling behaviors in a vertical rectangular micro-channel was conducted.The channel has dimensions of 0.54 mm×1.6 mm×330 mm(width×depth×length).The working fluid is deionized water.Experimental results reveal that the pressure drop increases with increasing mass flux and exit vapor quality.And the pressure drop is mainly contributed by friction part,while the influences of gravitation,acceleration and single phase flow on pressure drop are relatively small.Based on the experimental results,new frictional factor correlations for single phase flow are suggested.In addition,the experimental data of Tang(2007) and Hrnjak(2007) are well prediced by the new frictional factor correlations.