568a Enhanced Heat Removal Due to Pulsatile Flows

Jonathan M. Volk1, Aaron M. Thomas2, and Ranga Narayanan1. (1) Chemical Engineering, University of Florida, P.O. Box 116005, Gainesville, FL 32611, (2) Chemical Engineering, University of Idaho, PO Box 441021, Moscow, ID 83844-1021

This talk is about the use of pulsatile flows to enhance heat transport. The physical idea behind this is that if a heat source is connected to a heat sink via a fluid and the fluid is oscillated the convective motion will bring about sharp spikes in the velocity profile which in turn will enhance the heat transport over pure conduction due to both radial and axial gradients. This research has many applications including removing heat from outer space modules, reactors, closed cabins, etc. Many parameters can be varied to maximize the convective heat transport as well as optimizing the energy output to input ratio. These parameters include pulse amplitude and frequency, pipe radius and length, as well as the transporting fluid and the geometry of the transport zone. The experimental results that have been obtained so far have been in good qualitative agreement with the theoretical calculations. It has been shown that through the experiment and the theory that pulsatile flows increase the heat transport of a system by as much as three orders of magnitude compared to ordinary conduction.