In this paper, the boiling synchronization of two-phase flow patterns in two parallel minichannels of 1 mm in diameter with connected compressible volumes was analyzed. The analysis was performed using images recorded with a high-speed camera. The degree of synchronization between channels was evaluated by assessing the presence of liquid flow in the small part of the minichannels. It can be concluded that boiling is synchronized when small bubble flow or wavy annular flow occur in neighboring channels. The occurrence of slug flow in one channel causes the boiling in neighboring channels to become unsynchronized. The result of the image analysis shows that the correlation coefficient based on the evaluation of the presence of liquid flow in the small part of the minichannels over a long enough time period allows for the detection of boiling synchronization.

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The synchronization between the air pressure fluctuations and the depth of liquid penetration into the nozzle during bubble departures was investigated using joint recurrence quantification analysis. In the experiment, the bubbles were generated from a glass nozzle into distilled water. During the analysis, the recurrent rate coefficients were calculated for the depth of liquid penetration into the glass nozzle and pressure changes in the gas supply system. The study was conducted by two air volume flow rates, i.e. 0.023 l/min and 0.026 l/min. The air volume flow rates were selected so that the appearance and disappearance of period bubble departures were clearly visible. It has been shown that the synchronization of the pressure changes and the depth of liquid penetration appears when periodic changes in the depth of liquid penetration occur in a relatively long period of time. The process of changing the distance between the extremes of liquid penetration into the nozzle and pressure changes in the gas supply system was observed. It has been found that the decrease in the distance between these extremes is responsible for the appearance of periodic bubble departures. This behaviour has not been reported in previous papers. This process was modelled by numerical simulations.

In the paper, flow boiling in three parallel minichannels with a common inlet and outlet area was examined. The synchronization between flow distributions in minichannels was analyzed in local area (image analysis) and as the process of the synchronization between inlet and outlet pressure fluctuations. These processes were studied using cross recurrence plot. The analysis of pixel brightness changes inside minichannels has been applied to identify the similarity of flow patterns changes inside minichannels. The results have revealed that the processes of synchronization have a negative impact on water inlet and outlet temperature and inlet and outlet pressure oscillations. During synchronization high amplitude of oscillations of temperature and pressure occur. The mentioned behaviors are caused mainly by reverse flow. In the paper it has been shown that recurrence analysis of inlet and outlet pressure oscillations can be used for assessment of boiling synchronization in minichannels.

In the paper, numerical methods of data analysis recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) and self-organizing map (SOM) have been used to analyse pressure drop oscillations during the flow boiling in minichannel. The performed analysis allows us to identify flow patterns based on the character of the pressure drop oscillations. The following two-phase flow patterns have been identified: liquid flow, liquid flow with small vapour bubble, slug flow, long slug flow and confined bubble flow. In the experiment, the open-loop boiling system in a circular horizontal minichannel with an inner diameter of 1 mm was investigated. The two-phase flow patterns at the outlet of the heated section were observed through the glass tube (with an inner diameter of 1 mm) and recorded by a high-speed camera Phantom v1610.