A Review of Micro Heat Exchanger Flow Physics, Fabrication Methods and Applications

Abstract

A review of the literature in the area of micro heat exchangers is presented to provide a concise overview of the recent advances in this field of study. The review is divided into six sections. The first section reviews research focused on understanding friction and heat transfer in microchannels. The second section deals with heat exchanger design, optimization and comparison studies. The third section deals with fabrication methods used for constructing micro heat exchangers. The fourth section reviews applications of micro heat exchangers. The last two sections of the paper deal with miscellaneous topics and other reviews on the subject. The total review focuses on advances made after the early 1990’s.