Liquid-metal, pin-fin pressure drop by correlation in cross flow

Abstract

The pin-fin configuration is widely used in high-heat-flux applications. Recently, the pin-fin design with liquid-metal coolant was also applied to synchrotron-radiation beamline devices. This article investigates the pressure drop in a pin-post crystal with liquid gallium as the coolant. Because the pin-post configuration is a relatively new concept, information in the literature on pin-post mirrors or crystals is rare, and information on the pressure drop in pin-post mirrors with liquid metal as the coolant is even rarer. Because the cross flow in cylinder-array geometry is very similar to that of the pin post, the pressure drop correlation data for the cross flow of fluid with various fluid characteristics or properties through a tube bank are studied so that the results can be scaled to the pin-fin geometry with liquid metal as the coolant. The emphasis of this article is on the influence of two variables on the pressure drop: viscosity and density of fluid. The difference and correlation of the pressure drop between long and short posts and the predication of the pressure drop of liquid metal in the pin-post mirror and comparison with an existing experiment are addressed.

Computational Heat transfer analysis of capsulated liquid metal fins

“…It has also been proved by many researches that liquid metal could be used as coolant that increase heat transfer some of which include Liquid metal heat pipes for fusion application [7], liquid metals as high-temperature heattransport fluids [8], liquid metal as heat transfer fluid in concentrated solar power technologies [9]. Consequently, here, rather than having liquid metal as a coolant around it [10], the fin itself, containing liquid metal inside it is the major focus. Although researches on the encapsulation of liquid metals within semicircular and rectangular fins have been conducted [5], this study discusses the findings in the case of pin fins, particularly an aluminium pin fin containing mercury as the liquid metal.…”