Characterization of Porous Carbon Foam as a Material for Compact Recuperators

Experiments are presented to quantify the convective heat transfer and hydrodynamic loss that is obtained by forcing water through blocks of porous carbon foam (PCF) heated from one side. The experiments were conducted in a small-scale water tunnel instrumented to measure the pressure drop and temperature rise of the water passing through the blocks and the base temperature and heat flux into the foam block. In comparison to similar porosity aluminum foam, the present results indicate that the pressure drop across the porous carbon foam is higher due to the large hydrodynamic loss associated with the cell windows connecting the pores, but the heat transfer performance suggests that there may be a significant advantage to using PCF over aluminum foam for extended surface convection elements in recuperators and electronic cooling devices.