Research on mitigation strategies for axial heat conduction in cryogenic microchannel heat exchangers

The compact design of microchannel heat exchangers (MCHX) offers significant advantages for their utilization in cryogenic systems, but it is accompanied by serious axial heat conduction problems. To address this issue, various strategies for mitigating axial heat conduction in MCHXs are proposed in...

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Main Authors: Tao Zhu, Xiaoli Duan, Bingcheng Wang, Cheng Shao, Zheng Cui
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-10-01
Series:Case Studies in Thermal Engineering
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214157X25010676
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author Tao Zhu
Xiaoli Duan
Bingcheng Wang
Cheng Shao
Zheng Cui
author_facet Tao Zhu
Xiaoli Duan
Bingcheng Wang
Cheng Shao
Zheng Cui
author_sort Tao Zhu
collection DOAJ
description The compact design of microchannel heat exchangers (MCHX) offers significant advantages for their utilization in cryogenic systems, but it is accompanied by serious axial heat conduction problems. To address this issue, various strategies for mitigating axial heat conduction in MCHXs are proposed in this study. The results reveal that the heat exchanger efficiency loss (Δε) due to the axial heat conduction can reach 0.193 at a thermal conductivity of 100 W m−1 k−1. The substantial quantity of ribs and the reduced length of the separating wall create favorable conditions for axial heat conduction in MCHXs. The incorporation of slotted ribs in the MCHXs serves as an effective method to directly disrupt heat flux transferred axially in the ribs due to its non-continuous configuration. Furthermore, optimizing the separating wall materials and enhancing localized heat transfer capacity methods can increase the absolute and relative values of axial conductive thermal resistance of separating wall, respectively, thereby reducing the proportion of axial heat flux within it. The optimized thermal conductivity of separating wall is 10 W m−1 K−1. Ultimately, by incorporating all the enhancement strategies in MCHXs, 80.8 % of Δε can be effectively mitigated at a thermal conductivity of 100 W m−1 k−1.
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institution Kabale University
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publishDate 2025-10-01
publisher Elsevier
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series Case Studies in Thermal Engineering
spelling doaj-art-381cd541e26c4cf19ae16ef94d27f7872025-08-20T03:59:40ZengElsevierCase Studies in Thermal Engineering2214-157X2025-10-017410680710.1016/j.csite.2025.106807Research on mitigation strategies for axial heat conduction in cryogenic microchannel heat exchangersTao Zhu0Xiaoli Duan1Bingcheng Wang2Cheng Shao3Zheng Cui4Shandong Institute of Advanced Technology, Jinan, PR China; Corresponding author.IEIT SYSTEMS CO., LTD, Jinan, PR ChinaShandong Institute of Advanced Technology, Jinan, PR China; Corresponding author.Shandong Institute of Advanced Technology, Jinan, PR ChinaInstitute of Thermal Science and Technology, Shandong University, Jinan, PR ChinaThe compact design of microchannel heat exchangers (MCHX) offers significant advantages for their utilization in cryogenic systems, but it is accompanied by serious axial heat conduction problems. To address this issue, various strategies for mitigating axial heat conduction in MCHXs are proposed in this study. The results reveal that the heat exchanger efficiency loss (Δε) due to the axial heat conduction can reach 0.193 at a thermal conductivity of 100 W m−1 k−1. The substantial quantity of ribs and the reduced length of the separating wall create favorable conditions for axial heat conduction in MCHXs. The incorporation of slotted ribs in the MCHXs serves as an effective method to directly disrupt heat flux transferred axially in the ribs due to its non-continuous configuration. Furthermore, optimizing the separating wall materials and enhancing localized heat transfer capacity methods can increase the absolute and relative values of axial conductive thermal resistance of separating wall, respectively, thereby reducing the proportion of axial heat flux within it. The optimized thermal conductivity of separating wall is 10 W m−1 K−1. Ultimately, by incorporating all the enhancement strategies in MCHXs, 80.8 % of Δε can be effectively mitigated at a thermal conductivity of 100 W m−1 k−1.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214157X25010676Mirco-channel heat exchangerAxial heat conductionOptimizationNumerical model
spellingShingle Tao Zhu
Xiaoli Duan
Bingcheng Wang
Cheng Shao
Zheng Cui
Research on mitigation strategies for axial heat conduction in cryogenic microchannel heat exchangers
Case Studies in Thermal Engineering
Mirco-channel heat exchanger
Axial heat conduction
Optimization
Numerical model
title Research on mitigation strategies for axial heat conduction in cryogenic microchannel heat exchangers
title_full Research on mitigation strategies for axial heat conduction in cryogenic microchannel heat exchangers
title_fullStr Research on mitigation strategies for axial heat conduction in cryogenic microchannel heat exchangers
title_full_unstemmed Research on mitigation strategies for axial heat conduction in cryogenic microchannel heat exchangers
title_short Research on mitigation strategies for axial heat conduction in cryogenic microchannel heat exchangers
title_sort research on mitigation strategies for axial heat conduction in cryogenic microchannel heat exchangers
topic Mirco-channel heat exchanger
Axial heat conduction
Optimization
Numerical model
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214157X25010676
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AT bingchengwang researchonmitigationstrategiesforaxialheatconductionincryogenicmicrochannelheatexchangers
AT chengshao researchonmitigationstrategiesforaxialheatconductionincryogenicmicrochannelheatexchangers
AT zhengcui researchonmitigationstrategiesforaxialheatconductionincryogenicmicrochannelheatexchangers