Research concerning micro-actuators utilizing vapor-liquid interfacial phenomena has been carried out extensively to develop thermal devices applied to micromachines. On the other hand, the application of twophase flow is useful for the removal of waste heat from the semiconductor chips with highly increased heat generation density to be integrated in notebook PCs. In the present paper, the latest Japanese research on boiling and two-phase flow in minichannels is reviewed, covering the topics for the fundamental phenomena and practical applications. Boiling in a narrow channel between parallel plates is an ideal system for the development of high-performance heat exchangers with extremely small sizes. The promising approaches to increasing the critical heat flux (CHF) are introduced, including those by the present author, to compensate for the disadvantages inherent in this system.
KeywordsMicrochannel AE Minichannel AE Boiling AE Two-phase flow AE Critical heat flux List of symbols D Inner diameter (m) D e Hydraulic diameter (m) G Mass velocity (kg/m 2 s) g/g e Ratio of gravity to the normal gravity j Superficial velocity (m/s) P Pressure (Pa) q Heat flux (W/m 2 ) q CHF Critical heat flux (W/m 2 ) q o Heat flux evaluated from power input (W/m 2 ) q w Surface heat flux (W/m 2 ) s Gap size (mm) T Temperature (°C), or aspect ratio u Liquid velocity (m/s)