An experimental study of high heat flux removal by shear-driven liquid films

Intensively evaporating liquid films, moving under the friction of a co-current gas flow in a mini-channel (shear-driven liquid films), are promising for the use in cooling systems of modern semiconductor devices with high local heat release. In this work, the effect of various parameters, such as the liquid and gas flow rates and channel height, on the critical heat flux in the locally heated shear-driven water film has been studied. A record value of the critical heat flux of 1200 W/cm2 has been achieved in experiments. Heat leaks to the substrate and heat losses to the atmosphere in total do not exceed 25% for the heat flux above 400 W/cm2. Comparison of the critical heat fluxes for the shear-driven liquid film and for flow boiling in a minichannel shows that the critical heat flux is an order of magnitude higher for the shear-driven liquid film. This confirms the prospect of using shear-driven liquid films in the modern high-efficient cooling systems.