Effects of rotational acceleration on flow and heat transfer in straight and swirl microchannels

Electronic devices in aviation sustain the acceleration with variations in direction and magnitude. One problem is to reduce the adverse effect of acceleration on the performance of the heat exchanger. The microchannel is an innovational heat sink used for large heat dissipation. We designed two types of microchannel to study their flow and heat transfer characteristics under high-G acceleration. A centrifuge provided up to 15 g acceleration in a microchannel with FC-72 as the working fluid. The results show complicated flow and heat transfer characteristics at different acceleration directions, flow rates ranging from 10 to 15 L/h and a heat flux ranging from 35 to 80 W/cm ². The acceleration effects are reduced in the swirl microchannel compared with the traditional straight microchannels, and an increasing flow rate also resists acceleration. We perform an analysis of resistance against acceleration based on the forces exerted on each fluid particle.