ABSTRACT
Heat transfer in microchannels is a relatively new research interest and was not covered in the first edition. The diameter (or hydraulic diameter) associated with the term “microchannels” is ambiguous. As used here, the term is defined to mean diameters below 500 μm. Typical applications may involve diameters in the range of approximately 10 to 200 μm. Fabrication methods to form microchannels are discussed by Grande [2002]. This discussion includes channels as small as 0.1 μm hydraulic diameter. This chapter addresses fundamentals of heat transfer and friction in microchannels for single- and two-phase flows. Two recent conferences provide significant information on this subject. These are Celata et al. [2000] and Kandlikar et al. [2003].
