Flow boiling heat transfer characteristics of HFO-1234yf for electronic packaging cooling with a microchannel of triangular cross section

The present study focuses on the cooling performance of an environmentally friendly refrigerant HFO-1234yf which serves as a promising working fluid in miniature scale vapor-compression refrigeration system for the thermal management of electronic packaging with high power density. Experimental work was conducted for its flow boiling heat transfer performance in a microchannel with triangular cross section. Flow convection facilitates the effect of boiling in enhancing the heat transfer, particularly in the region with higher the mass flux and lower heat flux. The onset of boiling effect imposed on heat transfer is also being pre-matured by its increasing counterpart from convective flow. The competition between flow convection and boiling takes place leading to either a reduction or a stall in heat transfer performance. A sustenance in high heat transfer coefficient was observed within a certain range of the vapor quality, whereas a speculated “dry out” effect was also found in presence.