Digital Interferometric Measurement of Forced Convection Fields in Compact Channels

The application of digital interferometric techniques in the measurement of forced convection in compact channels is examined. Michelson Interferometry and Mach-Zehnder Interferometry have been compared and contrasted, in terms of the suitability for temperature measurements. A wedge-fringe setting parallel to the heated surface has been utilized as the basis of the fringe analysis, for effective measurement in small dimension channels. Michelson interferometry was found to provide a larger number of data points in the visualization field, thus proving to be a better method of measurement in compact passages. Heat transfer parameters, useful in heat sink design, were also calculated.