Rigorous bounds on heat transfer in rapidly rotating convection have existed for several years in the case of free-slip or stress-free boundary conditions. No-slip boundary conditions result in a phenomenon known as Ekman pumping, which significantly impacts the heat transport. A recent collaborative effort in which the author was involved significantly sharpened the bound on heat transfer in the presence of Ekman pumping. The resulting publication was targeted for an audience consisting primarily of physicists and other non-mathematicians. This work stems from the same effort, but is intended for a mathematical audience. Two additional, new results are presented that provide a more solid mathematical footing. These are firstly, a rigorous justification of the infinite Prandtl limit relied on in the referenced work, and secondly, a maximum principle for the temperature field, which provides the needed justification for the application of the background method.

Ce mémoire présente l’étude du refroidissement diphasique passif d’un décodeur de télévision par le biais d’un caloduc. Il se décompose en deux grandes parties : une étude numérique des caloducs, afin de déterminer les caractéristiques géométriques et physico-chimiques des calo-ducs dans le but de refroidir de manière optimale le décodeur TV. Deux analyses numériques sont effectuées : une première qui est analytique, qui repose sur des simplifications afin d’établir une formule simple du flux maximal que l’on peut dissiper avec un caloduc dont on connais les caractéristiques demandées. Une vérification est de surcrois effectuée pour déterminer si le ca-loduc déterminé ne rentre pas dans des limitations inhérentes aux écoulements diphasiques. Dif-férents fluides sont testés. Une seconde simulation est effectuée, comportant une étude hydrau-lique couuplée a un modèle hydraulique pour simuler toutes les propriétés à l’intérieur du calo-duc, comme le rayon capillaire, les pressions, les vitesses des fluides. Cette simulation est effec-tuée grace a une méthode Runge-Kutta d’un système d’équations différentielles non linéaires couplées. La partie experimentale comporte elle aussi deux sections distinctes. La première con-siste à tester différents caloducs, afin d’optimiser leur fonctionnement lorsqu’ils sont soumis à des puissances données.Pour ce faire, un banc d’essai a été monté et un système de remplissage a été développé afin de répondre aux enjeux de la mise en place d’un caloduc. Plusieurs taux de remplissages, plusieurs fludies et différentes ailettes sont testées. Enfin, le caloduc présentant les meilleures performances est testé sur le décodeur, après avoir au préalable caractérisé le com-portement de celui-ci en fonctionnement normal. / This report presents the study of a passive two-phase cooling of a television decoder using heat pipe. It is composed into two main parts: a first part concerns the numerical studies and the second an experimentalstudy. Numerical study is conducted in order to determine the geometric and physico-chemicalcharacteristics of heat pipes in order to optimally cool the TV decoder. Two numerical analyses arecarried out: a first one, which is analytical model that is based on the global study of the heat pipe inorder to determine the maximum heat flux that can be dissipated. Different working fluid could bestudied and various architectural design of heat pipe are tested. Different fluids are tested in order todetermine the best configuration of the micro-channel respecting heat pipes working limitations. Asecond model is carried out to characterize the local physical parameters such as: pressure in the liquidand vapour phases, temperature, thermal resistances, capillary radius, etc. This second simulation iscarried out by a Runge-Kutta method to solve differential equations. In the experimental part, an experimentalset up is has been installed in the laboratory to study heat pipes performances under variousexperimental conditions. A filling system has been developed for heat pipes in order to test variousworking fluids and different charges. Finally, the best configuration of the heat pipe is tested to coolOrange decoder. Different tests are conducted previously in order to make characterization of the conventionalcooling system and heat pipe cooling mod.

L'objectif de cette étude est de concevoir un système de refroidissement passif au sein d'un data center. La solution qui a été choisie est la boucle thermosiphon, combinant le free cooling et le refroidissement par changement de phase. Cette technologie offre de la simplicité et de la compacité. De plus, en l'associant avec des échangeurs de chaleur à micro-canaux, elle est capable d'absorber de grandes quantités de flux de chaleur avec un faible débit du réfrigérant. La boucle thermosiphon est composée d'un évaporateur à mini-canaux et à courants parallèles, d'un condenseur à air, d'un riser et d'un downcomer. Un prototype expérimental a été construit afin de caractériser les transferts de chaleur entre le réfrigérant et la chaleur créée. Des études expérimentales sont introduites. L'influence du taux de chargement et de la puissance électrique est détaillée et analysée. En parallèle, un modèle numérique a été développé pour prédire les caractéristiques du réfrigérant en fonction des paramètres géométriques et climatiques. Une comparaison avec les résultats expérimentaux est également effectuée. Enfin, la boucle thermosiphon est améliorée avec l'ajout d'un second évaporateur. Les tests sont effectués avec des puissances plus importantes. Une nouvelle conception d'une boucle thermosiphon et les limites du prototype sont présentées. / The objective of this study is to build a passive cooling system in a data center. The chosen solution is the loop thermosyphon, combining free cooling and two-phase cooling. This technology offers simplicity and compactness. Furthermore, by associating with micro-channels heat exchangers, it is able to remove higher heat fluxes while working with smaller mass flow rate of coolant. The thermosyphon is composed by mini-channel parallel-flow evaporator, an air condenser, a riser and a downcomer. The experimental setup has been built to characterize the heat transfer between the working fluid and the provided heat. An experimental study is introduced. The effect of the fill ratio and the input power is specified and analyzed. In parallel, a numerical model has been developed to predict the fluid properties in function of geometrical and climatic parameters. A comparison between experimental and numerical results is also carried out. Finally, the loop thermosyphon is upgraded with a second mini-channel parallel flow evaporator. Tests are conducted with huger heat flux. A new design of loop thermosyphon and the limits of the prototype are introduced.

Son efficacité, son faible impact environnemental et sa fiabilité font de la réfrigération thermoacoustique solaire une alternative intéressante aux systèmes solaires de production de froid. L'adaptation des technologies solaire et thermoacoustique requiert une conception thermique précise de l'élément d'interface, le récepteur solaire, constitué d'une cavité et d'un échangeur irradié par le rayonnement solaire. L'objectif de cet élément est de collecter et de transmettre efficacement l'énergie solaire incidente au fluide de travail du système thermoacoustique. Comme les ondes acoustiques sont très sensibles aux perturbations thermiques, la conception du récepteur doit favoriser l'homogénéité thermique, spatiale et temporelle, à l'intérieur de l'échangeur. Pour cette raison, une étude complète incluant le développement d'outils numériques de simulation pour modéliser le processus thermique, du transfert solaire au transfert thermoacoustique est nécessaire afin d’optimiser les dimensions du prototype de la campagne expérimentale. Cette étude décrit les outils de simulation ainsi que les dispositifs expérimentaux comme les résultats obtenus sur les aspects spatiaux et temporels. / Its efficiency, its low environmental impact and its reliability makes thermoacoustic solar refrigeration an interesting alternative to the existing solar systems for the cooling production. The solar adaptation of a thermoacoustic system requires an appropriate thermal design of the interface element, the solar receiver, which consists in a hot heat exchanger placed in a cavity that surrounds the focused image of the sun. The objective of this element is to efficiently collect and transfer the concentrated solar incident energy to the working fluid of the thermoacoustic system. Since acoustic waves characteristics are very sensitive to thermal disturbances, one challenge in the design of the receiver is that the temperature field within the heat exchanger must be as homogeneous as possible in space and time. Hence, a complete study, including the development of simulations tools which model the whole heat transfer processes, from solar to thermoacoustics, is necessary to optimize the prototype’s dimensions for the experimental campaign. This study describes the simulation tools and the experimental apparatus developed and the results obtained over space and time.

Large heat transfer rates are a major source of possible failure in flight vehicles due to increases in temperature being linked to weakening material properties. Aircraft in high-Mach number flow generate excessive aerodynamic heat that may increase temperatures above limits of structural integrity. Even without reducing speed or changing material, it is possible to mitigate heat transfer by altering vehicle geometry. The purpose of this thesis is to study the extent of heat transfer in gap regions of various sizes by computationally simulating flow over an idealized missile-fin configuration. Maximum levels of heat transfer are analyzed as well as surface distributions that identify key design points. The Department of Defense software package with computational fluid dynamics capabilities, Kestrel, was employed to use the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations to simulate turbulent Mach~6 flow over the missile model. Results are compared to data obtained by the Air Force Research Laboratory via wind tunnel tests of the same flow. Experiments and simulations both found an order of magnitude increase in heat transfer when an offset fin was attached, but this heating could be reduced by minimizing the offset distance. Simulated baseline properties agreed very well with experimental measurements and simulations of the gap region more precisely identified the locations of maximum heating.

This study aims to experimentally investigate the spray cooling characteristics for active two-phase cooling of automotive power electronics. Tests are conducted on a small-scale, closed loop spray cooling system featuring a pressure atomized spray nozzle. Two types of refrigerants, HFC-134a (R-134a) and HFO-1234yf, are selected as the working fluids. The test section (heater), made out of oxygen-free copper, has a 1-cm2 plain, smooth surface prepared following a consistent procedure, and would serve as a baseline case. Matching size thick film resistors, attached onto the copper heaters, generate heat and simulate high heat flux power electronics devices. The tests are conducted by controlling the heat flux in increasing steps, and recording the corresponding steady-state temperatures to obtain cooling curves. The working fluid is kept at room temperature level (22oC). Performance comparisons are made based on heat transfer coefficient (HTC) and critical heat flux (CHF) values. Effects of spray characteristics and liquid flow rates on the cooling performance are investigated with the selected coolants. Three types of commercially available nozzles that generate full-cone sprays with fine droplets are utilized in the tests. Effect of liquid flow rate is evaluated varying flow rates at 2, 3, 4 ml/s. The experimental results obtained from this study provide a framework for spray cooling performance with the current and next-generation refrigerants aimed for advanced thermal management of automotive power electronics.

This thesis presents a thermal gradient gas chromatography (TGGC) system that is implemented on a micro-scale. The GC column is approximately 20 cm long and is fabricated out of silicon with 21 nickel thin-film heaters evenly placed along the length of the column. Computational heat transfer models using ANSYS Mechanical APDL predict heating and cooling rates up to 32,000 deg C/min and 3,600 deg C/min, respectively. These results are verified through testing an experimental silicon channel. A PI controller which uses resistance measurements to calculate thin-film temperature is used for obtaining dynamic thermal gradient control. This controller is shown to possess a characteristic rise time of approximately 0.3 seconds with less than 4% overshoot and precision to within less than a degree. These characteristics present this system as a highly favorable candidate for a micro-GC column with resolution similar to that of conventional GC.

With the world’s increasing usage of electronic devices such as mobile devices and batteries, improving the reliability and performance of these devices has become more and more important. Besides the common overheating issues, low-temperature environments can also cause performance degradation or failure to these devices. Research on thermal switches and thermal regulators aims to improve the thermal management of electronic devices across a range of operating conditions. However, continuous tuning of thermal transport with all-solid-state systems is still challenging. The primary purpose of this work is to propose and demonstrate compressible foams as novel variable thermal resistors and thermal regulators to control device temperature under various input heat flux and ambient temperature. The graphene/PDMS foam is first tested in this work to demonstrate promising performance as a thermal regulator, with continuous tuning capability and a system switching ratio over ~4. Then, the dependence of the thermal conductivity of polymer foams during compression is studied, where the thermal conductivity is measured using a customized system based on an infrared microscope. Unexpectedly, the thermal conductivity decreases slightly at a compression level of more than 10x, in contrast to common theories that the thermal conductivity would increase with the mass density. A simple “spring model” is proposed as a limit where the ligaments do not build contacts during compression. Our results now fall in between the “spring model” and other common theories and can be explained. To gain further insights, a molecular dynamic simulation is performed on a graphene random nanofoam on the nanoscale. The result also shows that the effective thermal conductivity along the compression direction is not sensitive to the mass density, consistent with our experimental data on the macroscopic scale. This work provides useful insights into dynamic thermal management of electronic devices.

We develop a two-fluid model (TFM) for heat transfer in dense non-Brownian suspensions. Specifically, we propose closure relations for the inter-phase heat transfer coefficient and the thermal diffusivity of the particle phase based on calibration against experimental data. The model is then employed to simulate non-isothermal flow in an annular Couette cell. We find that, when the shear rate is controlled by the rotation of the inner cylinder, both the shear and thermal gradients are responsible for particle migration. Within the TFM framework, we identify the origin and functional form of a "thermo-rheological" migration force that rationalizes our observations. Furthermore, we apply our model to flow in eccentric Couette cells. Our simulations reveal that the system's heat transfer coefficient is affected by both the classic shear-induced migration of particles and the newly identified thermo-rheological migration effect. Finally, we employed the proposed computational TFM framework to analyze electronics cooling by forced convection for microchannel cooling. We used a suspensions of high thermal conductivity (Boron Nitride) particles in a 3M Fluorinert FC-43 cooling fluid. Three-dimensional simulations were run to quantify the temperature distributions under uniform heating (5 W) and under hot-spot heating (2 W/cm^2) conditions. A 100 K junction level temperature improvement (enhanced thermal spreading) was seen for hot-spot heating and 15 K was observed for uniform heating, demonstrating the enhanced cooling capabilities of dense particulate suspensions of high-conductivity particles, over a clear FC-43 fluid.

As a result of the intense air-water interaction in the spray nozzle, air-mist spray is one of the most promising technologies for attaining high heat transfer. CFD simulations and multivariable linear regression were used in the first part of this study to analyze the air-mist spray produced by a flat-fan atomizer and to predict the heat transfer coefficient using the casting operating conditions such as air pressure, water flow rate, cast speed and standoff distance. For the air-mist spray cooling simulation, a four-step simulation method was utilized to capture the turbulent flow and mixing of the two fluids in the nozzle, as well as the generation, transport, and heat transfer of droplets. Analysis of the casting parameters showed that an increase in air pressure results in efficient atomization, increases the kinetic energy of the droplets and produces smaller droplet size thus, the cooling of the slab increases significantly. Also, a decrease in water flow rate, standoff distance and casting speed would result in more efficient cooling of the steel slab. The second part of the study investigated the solidification of steel in the secondary cooling region. Caster geometry and casting parameters were studied to evaluate their impact on the solidification of steel. The parameters studied include roll gap, roll diameter, casting speed and superheat. It was found that a smaller ratio of roll gap to roll diameter is more efficient for adequate solidification of steel without any defect. Casting speed was found to have a significant effect on the solidification of steel while superheat was found to be insignificant in the secondary zone solidification. The result from the air-mist spray cooling was integrated into the solidification model to investigate the solidification of steel in the entire caster and predict the surface temperature, shell growth and metallurgical length. To replicate real casting process, temperature dependent material properties of the steel were evaluated using a thermodynamic software, JMatPro. The air-mist spray model was majorly investigated using ANSYS Fluent 2020R1 CFD tool while the solidification of steel was studied using STARCCM+ CFD software. Using the findings from this study, continuous casting processes and optimization can be improved.