Influence of carbon nanotubes on nucleate pool boiling heat transfer characteristics of refrigerant–oil mixture

Influence of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on nucleate pool boiling heat transfer characteristics of refrigerant–oil mixture was investigated experimentally. Four types of CNTs with the outside diameters from 15 nm to 80 nm and the lengths from 1.5 μm to 10 μm were used in the experiments. Test conditions include CNTs mass fractions in the CNTs nanolubricant from 0 to 30 wt% and CNTs nanolubricant mass fractions from 0 to 5 wt%. The experimental results indicate that the presence of CNTs enhances the nucleate pool boiling heat transfer coefficient of R113-oil mixture by a maximum of 61% under the present test conditions, and the enhancement increases with the decrease of CNTs outside diameter or the increase of CNTs length. For fixed CNTs physical dimension, the enhancement increases with the increase of CNTs mass fraction in the CNTs nanolubricant or the decrease of CNTs nanolubricant mass fraction. A correlation for predicting the nucleate pool boiling heat transfer coefficient of refrigerant–oil mixture with CNTs is proposed, and it agrees with 96% of the experimental data within a deviation of ±10%.     

Nucleate pool boiling heat transfer of TiO2–R141b nanofluids

Nucleate pool boiling heat transfer of a refrigerant-based-nanofluid was investigated at different nanoparticle concentrations and pressures. TiO₂ nanoparticles were mixed with the refrigerant HCFC 141b at 0.01, 0.03 and 0.05 vol%. The experiment was performed using a cylindrical copper tube as a boiling surface. Pool boiling experiments of nanofluid were conducted and compared with that of the base refrigerant. The results indicate that the nucleate pool boiling heat transfer deteriorated with increasing particle concentrations, especially at high heat fluxes. At 0.05 vol%, the boiling heat transfer curves were suppressed. At high pressures of 400 and 500 kPa, the boiling heat transfer coefficient at a specific excess temperature was almost the same.     

Flow boiling heat transfer of HFO1234yf and R32 refrigerant mixtures in a smooth horizontal tube: Part I. Experimental investigation

HFO1234yf has been proposed for mobile air-conditioners due to its low global warming potential (GWP) and performance comparable to that of R134a. However, its performance is inferior to that of R410A. This makes it difficult to be applied to residential air-conditioners. In order to apply the low-GWP refrigerant to residential air-conditioners, refrigerant mixtures of HFO1234yf and R32 are proposed, and their flow boiling heat transfer performances were investigated at two mass fractions (80/20 and 50/50 by mass%) in a smooth horizontal tube with an inner diameter of 2 mm. The experiments were conducted under heat fluxes ranging from 6 to 24 kW/m² and mass fluxes ranging from 100 to 400 kg/m² s at the evaporation temperature of 15 °C. The measured heat transfer coefficients were compared with those of pure HFO1234yf and R32. The results showed that the heat transfer coefficients of the mixture with an R32 mass fraction of 20% were 10–30% less than those of pure HFO1234yf for various mass and heat fluxes. When the mass fraction of R32 increased to 50%, the heat transfer coefficients of the mixture were 10–20% greater than those of pure HFO1234yf under conditions of large mass and heat fluxes. Moreover, the heat transfer coefficients of the mixtures were about 20–50% less than that of pure R32. The performances of the mixtures were examined at different boiling numbers. For refrigerant mixture HFO1234yf and R32 (80/20 by mass%), the nucleate boiling heat transfer was noticeably suppressed at low vapor quality for small boiling numbers, whereas the forced convective heat transfer was significantly suppressed at high vapor quality for large boiling numbers. This indicates that the heat transfer is greatly influenced by the mass diffusion resistance and temperature glide of the mixture.     

Pool boiling characteristics of low concentration nanofluids

The pool boiling behavior of low concentration nanofluids (?1 g/l) was experimentally studied over a flat heater at 1 atm. Boiling of nanofluids produces a thin nanoparticle film, on the heater surface, which in turn is believed to increase the critical heat flux. The present study also indicates that the nanoparticle deposition results in transient characteristics in the nucleate boiling heat transfer. Finally, this study investigates possible causes responsible for the deposition of nanoparticle on the heater surface. Experimental evidence shows that microlayer evaporation, during nanofluid boiling, is responsible for the nanoparticle coating formed on the heater surfaces.     

Boiling enhancement by TiO2 nanoparticle deposition

TiO₂ nanoparticle-coated nickel wires were produced by electrical heating in various nanofluid concentrations ranging from 0.01 to 1 wt.% with various processing heat fluxes from 0 to 1000 kW/m². The experimental results demonstrated up to 82.7% enhancement on critical heat flux (CHF) in condition of coated nickel wire (processed in 1 wt.% with 1000 kW/m²) boiling in pure water. The contact angle measurement revealed that the hydrophilic porous coating formed by vigorous vaporization of TiO₂ nanofluid in nucleate boiling regime enormously modified the wettability of heating surface consequently improving the CHF. Besides, it is evident that the coverage of nanoparticle deposition tended to become more complete as concentration and processing heat flux increased based on SEM and EDS analysis. The nanoparticles dispersed in base fluid exhibited little effect on CHF enhancement and could even hinder the percentage of CHF augmentation from boosting, which demonstrated that one could enhance CHF by using only small amount of nanoparticles just adequate to form surface coatings instead of preparing working fluid with great bulk. However, according to the boiling curves in all cases of coated nickel wires, it is supposed that the nucleate boiling heat transfer coefficient deteriorates as a result of thermal resistance resulted from the occurrence of nanoparticle deposition. In summary, the coated porous structure of nanoparticles leads to enhance CHF and to decrease boiling heat transfer coefficient.     

Experimental investigation of the forced convective boiling heat transfer of R-600a/oil/nanoparticle

In this paper an experimental study of convective boiling heat transfer of R-600a/oil/nanoparticle mixtures is investigated. The experimental setup was prepared with a smooth horizontal tube as a test section with the length and diameter of 9.5 and 103 mm, respectively, and pure R-600a was applied for evaluating the heat transfer enhancement. Six mixtures containing 1% weight fraction of R-600a/oil with different concentrations of CuO nanoparticles including 0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 5.0% weight fraction of R-600a/oil/nanoparticle were used in our study.The mass velocity per cross area was considered at the range of 50–700 kg/m² s for low vapor quality (ϕ < 0.25). The results showed that the convective boiling heat transfer coefficient will be increased by increasing the mass fraction of nanoparticles up to 2%, while by increasing the mass fraction of nanoparticles up to 5% the heat transfer coefficient will be reduced.     

Effects of heater size and working fluids on nucleate boiling heat transfer

The present study is an experimental investigation of nucleate boiling heat transfer mechanism in pool boiling from wire heaters immersed in saturated FC-72 coolant and water. The vapor volume flow rate departing from a wire during nucleate boiling was determined by measuring the volume of bubbles from the wire utilizing the consecutive-photo method. The effects of the wire size on heat transfer mechanism during a nucleate boiling were investigated, varying 25 μm, 75 μm, and 390 μm, by measuring vapor volume flow rate and the frequency of bubbles departing from a wire immersed in saturated FC-72. One wire diameter of 390 μm was selected and tested in saturated water to investigate the fluid effect on the nucleate boiling heat transfer mechanism. Results of the study showed that an increase in nucleate boiling heat transfer coefficients with reductions in wire diameter was related to the decreased latent heat contribution. The latent heat contribution of boiling heat transfer for the water test was found to be higher than that of FC-72. The frequency of departing bubbles was correlated as a function of bubble diameters.     

Flow boiling heat transfer coefficient of R-134a/R-290/R-600a mixture in smooth horizontal tubes using varied heat flux method

An experimental study on in-tube flow boiling heat transfer of R-134a/R-290/R-600a refrigerant mixture has been carried out under varied heat flux test conditions. The heat transfer coefficients are experimentally measured at temperatures between ?8 and 5 °C for mass flow rates of 3–5 g s^?1. Acetone is used as a hot fluid which flows in the outer tube of diameter 28.57 mm while the refrigerant mixture flows in the inner tube of diameters 9.52 and 12.7 mm. By regulating the acetone flow conditions, the heat flux is maintained between 2 and 8 kW/m² and the pressure of the refrigerant is maintained between 3.2 and 5 bar. The comparison of experimental results with the familiar correlations shows that the correlations over predict the heat transfer coefficients for this mixture when stratified and stratified-wavy flow prevail. Multiple regression technique is used to evolve and modify existing correlations to predict the heat transfer coefficient of the refrigerant mixture. It is found that the modified version of Lavin–Young correlation (1965) predicts the heat transfer coefficient of the considered mixture within an average deviation of ±20.5 %.     

Comparison study of liquid replenishing impacts on critical heat flux and heat transfer coefficient of nucleate pool boiling on multiscale modulated porous structures

The critical heat flux (CHF) and heat transfer coefficient of de-ionized (DI) water pool boiling have been experimentally studied on a plain surface, one uniform thick porous structure, two modulated porous structures and two hybrid modulated porous structures. The modulated porous structure design has a porous base of 0.55 mm thick with four 3 mm diameter porous pillars of 3.6 mm high on the top of the base. The microparticle size combinations of porous base and porous pillars are uniform 250 μm, uniform 400 μm, 250 μm for base and 400 μm for pillars, and 400 μm for base and 250 μm for pillars. Both the CHF and heat transfer coefficient are significantly improved by the modulated porous. The boiling curves for different kinds of porous structures and a plain surface are compared and analyzed. Hydrodynamic instability for the two-phase change heat transfer has been delayed by the porous pillars which dramatically enhances the CHF. The highest pool boiling heat flux occurring on the modulated porous structures has a value of 450 W/cm², over three times of the CHF on a plain surface. Additionally, the highest heat transfer coefficient also reaches a value of 20 W/cm² K, three times of that on a plain copper surface. The study also demonstrates that the horizontal liquid replenishing is equally important as the vertical liquid replenishing for the enhancement of heat transfer coefficient and CHF improvement in nucleate pool boiling.     

Enhanced boiling of HFE-7100 dielectric liquid on porous graphite

Enhanced boiling of HFE-7100 dielectric liquid on porous graphite measuring 10 mm × 10 mm is investigated, and results are compared with those for smooth copper (Cu) of the same dimensions. Although liquid is out-gassed for hours before performing the pool boiling experiments, air entrapped in re-entrant type cavities, ranging in size from tens to hundreds of microns, not only enhanced the nucleate boiling heat transfer and the critical heat flux (CHF), but also, the mixing by the released tiny air bubbles from the porous graphite prior to boiling incipience enhanced the natural convection heat transfer by ∼19%. No temperature excursion is associated with the nucleate boiling on porous graphite, which ensues at very low surface superheat of 0.5–0.8 K. Conversely, the temperature overshoot at incipient boiling on Cu is as much as 39.2, 36.6, 34.1 and 32.8 K in 0 (saturation), 10, 20 and 30 K subcooled boiling, respectively. Nucleate boiling ensues on Cu at a surface superheat of 11.9, 10.9, 9.5 and 7.5 K in 0 (saturation), 10, 20 and 30 K subcooled boiling, respectively. The saturation nucleate boiling heat flux on porous graphite is 1700% higher than that on Cu at a surface superheat of ∼10 K and decreases exponentially with increased superheat to ∼60% higher near CHF. The CHF values of HFE-7100 on porous graphite of 31.8, 45.1, 55.9 and 66.4 W/cm² in 0 (saturation), 10, 20 and 30 K subcooled boiling, are 60% higher and the corresponding superheats are 25% lower than those on Cu. In addition, the rate of increase in CHF with increased liquid subcooling is 50% higher than that on Cu.     

Pool boiling heat transfer in a vertical annulus with a stepped outside tube

Effects of a stepped outside tube on nucleate pool boiling heat transfer in a vertical annulus with closed bottoms have been investigated experimentally. For the study saturated water at atmospheric pressure and a heated tube of 200 mm length and 19 mm diameter were used. The shape of an outside tube of the annulus has step geometry and the ratio between the upper and lower regions are varied from 0.23 to 4.43. The existence of the stepped outside tube changes heat transfer characteristics and its effect becomes evident as the gap ratio is smaller than 1. For the tested gap ratios heat transfer deterioration is observed as the heat flux is higher than 80 kW/m² comparing to the single unrestricted tube. The major cause for the tendency is attributed to the loss of liquid agitation intensity around the stepped regions of the annulus.     

Effects of surfactant additive on flow boiling over a microheater under pulse heating

An experimental investigation has been carried out to study effects of surfactant additive on microscale boiling under pulse heating over a Pt microheater (140 × 100 μm²) fabricated in a trapezoidal microchannel (600 μm in width and 150 μm in depth). Experiments are carried out for six different surfactant concentrations of Triton X-100 ranging from 47 ppm to 2103 ppm, for mass flux in the range from 45 kg/m² s to 225 kg/m² s, pulse width in the range from 50 μs to 2 ms, and heat flux in the range from 3 MW/m² to 65 MW/m². As in existing work on pool boiling under steady heating, it is found that nucleate boiling becomes more vigorous and heat transfer is enhanced greatly with the addition of surfactant with maximum boiling heat transfer occurs at the critical micelle concentration (cmc). Furthermore, these maximum values of boiling heat transfer coefficient increase with decreasing pulse width. When concentration is below cmc, the heat flux needed for nucleation increases with increasing concentration and the nucleation temperature is reduced. When concentration is higher than cmc, the boiling heat transfer coefficient decreases and nucleation temperature is higher than that of pure water.     

Heat transfer characteristics during subcooled flow boiling of a kerosene kind hydrocarbon fuel in a 1 mm diameter channel

The subcooled flow boiling heat transfer characteristics of a kerosene kind hydrocarbon fuel were investigated in an electrically heated horizontal tube with an inner diameter of 1.0 mm, in the range of heat flux: 20–1500 kW/m², fluid temperature: 25–400 °C, mass flux: 1260–2160 kg/m² s, and pressure: 0.25–2.5 MPa. It was proposed that nucleate boiling heat transfer mechanism is dominant, as the heat transfer performance is dependent on heat flux imposed on the channel, rather than the fuel flow rate. It was found that the wall temperatures along the test section kept constant during the fully developed subcooled boiling (FDSB) of the non-azeotropic hydrocarbon fuel. After the onset of nucleate boiling, the temperature differences between inner wall and bulk fluid begin to decrease with the increase of heat flux. Experimental results show that the complicated boiling heat transfer behavior of hydrocarbon fuel is profoundly affected by the pressure and heat flux, especially by fuel subcooling. A correlation of heat transfer coefficients varying with heat fluxes and fuel subcooling was curve fitted. Excellent agreement is obtained between the predicted values and the experimental data.     

Experimental investigation of flow boiling heat transfer of jet impingement on smooth and micro structured surfaces

Flow boiling heat transfer experiments using R134a were carried out for jet impingement on smooth and enhanced surfaces. The enhanced surfaces were circular micro pin fins, hydrofoil micro pin fins, and square micro pin fins. The effects of saturation pressure, heat flux, Reynolds number, pin fin geometry, pin fin array configuration, and surface aging on flow boiling heat transfer characteristics were investigated. Flow boiling experiments were carried out for two different saturation pressures, 820 kPa and 1090 kPa. Four jet exit velocities ranging from 1.1–4.05 m/s were investigated. Flow boiling jet impingement on smooth surfaces was characterized by large temperature overshoots, exhibiting boiling hysteresis. Flow boiling jet impingement on micro pin fins displayed large heat transfer coefficients. Heat transfer coefficients as high as 150,000 W/m² K were observed at a relatively low velocity of 2.2 m/s with the large (D = 125 μm) circular micro pin fins. Jet velocity, surface aging, and saturation pressure were found to have significant effects on the two-phase heat transfer characteristics. Subcooled nucleate boiling was found to be the dominant heat transfer mechanism.     

Preparation and pool boiling characteristics of copper nanofluids over a flat plate heater

The copper nanoparticles of average size of 10 nm have been prepared by the sputtering method and characterized through atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The pool boiling heat transfer characteristics of 0.25%, 0.5% and 1.0% by weight concentrations of copper nanoparticles has been studied. Different copper based nanofluids were prepared in both, distilled water and distilled water with 9.0 wt% of sodium lauryl sulphate anionic surfactant (SDS). The pool boiling heat transfer data were acquired for the boiling of nanofluids over a 30 mm square and 0.44 mm thick stainless steel plate heater. The experimental results show that for the critical heat flux of pure water is 80% higher than that of water–surfactant fluid. Also, it was found that the critical heat flux for 0.25%, 0.5% and 1.0% concentrations of copper nanoparticles in copper–water nanofluids are 25%, 40% and 48% higher than that of pure water. But in the case of copper–water with surfactant nanofluids comparing with pure water, the CHF decreases to 75%, 68%, and 62% for respective concentrations of copper nanoparticles. The heat transfer coefficient decreases with increase of nanoparticles concentration in both water–copper and water–copper with surfactant nanofluids.     

Local heat transfer coefficient for pool boiling of R-134a and R-123 on smooth and enhanced tubes

The current paper presents experimental investigation of nucleate pool boiling of R-134a and R-123 on enhanced and smooth tubes. The enhanced tubes used were TBIIHP and TBIILP for R-134a and R-123, respectively. Pool boiling data were taken for smooth and enhanced tubes in a single tube test section. Data were taken at a saturation temperature of 4.44 °C. Each test tube had an outside diameter of 19.05 mm and a length of 1 m. The test section was water heated with an insert in the water passage. The insert allowed measurement of local water temperatures down the length of the test tube. Utilizing this instrumentation, local heat transfer coefficients were determined at five locations along the test tube. The heat flux range was 2.5–157.5 kW/m² for the TBIIHP tube and 3.1–73.2 kW/m² for the TBIILP tube. The resulting heat transfer coefficient range was 4146–23255 W/m². °C and 5331–25950 W/m². °C for both tubes, respectively. For smooth tube testing, the heat flux ranges were 7.3–130.7 kW/m² and 7.5–60.7 kW/m² for R-134a and R-123, respectively; with resulting heat transfer coefficient ranges of 1798.9–11,379 W/m². °C and 535.4–3181.8 W/m². °C. The study provided one of the widest heat flux ranges ever examined for these types of tubes and showed significant structure to the pool boiling curve that had not been traditionally observed. Additionally, this paper presented an investigation of enhanced tubes pool boiling models.     

Nanofluid stabilizes and enhances convective boiling heat transfer in a single microchannel

The flow boiling heat transfer in a single microchannel was investigated with pure water and nanofluid as the working fluids. The microchannel had a size of 7500 × 100 × 250 μm, which was formed by two pyrex glasses and a silicon wafer. A platinum film with a length of 3500 μm and a width of 80 μm was deposited at the bottom channel surface, acting as the heater and temperature sensor. The nanofluid had a low weight concentration of 0.2%, consisting of de-ionized water and 40 nm Al₂O₃ nanoparticles. The nanoparticle deposition phenomenon was not observed. The boiling flow displays chaotic behavior due to the random bubble coalescence and breakup in the milliseconds timescale at moderate heat fluxes for pure water. The flow instability with large oscillation amplitudes and long cycle periods was observed with further increases in heat fluxes. The flow patterns are switched between the elongated bubbles and isolated miniature bubbles in the timescale of 100 s. It is found that nanofluid significantly mitigate the flow instability without nanoparticle deposition effect. The boiling flow is always stable or quasi-stable with significantly reduced pressure drop and enhanced heat transfer. Miniature bubbles are the major flow pattern in the microchannel. Elongated bubbles temporarily appear in the milliseconds timescale but isolated miniature bubbles will occupy the channel shortly. The decreased surface tension force acting on the bubble accounts for the smaller bubble size before the bubble departure. The inhibition of the dry patch development by the structural disjoining pressure, and the enlarged percentage of liquid film evaporation heat transfer region with nanoparticles, may account for the heat transfer enhancement compared to pure water.     

Enhancement of nucleate pool boiling heat transfer in ammonia/water mixtures with a surface-active agent

Nucleate pool boiling heat transfer coefficients of ammonia/water mixtures were measured at a pressure of 0.4 MPa on a horizontal heated fine wire having a diameter of 0.3 mm. The nucleate pool boiling aspects were observed, after the addition of a surface-active agent to the mixtures. The effects of the concentrations of ammonia and the surface-active agent on the coefficients were clarified experimentally for the ammonia fraction range 0.1 ≦ C ≦ 0.9 and surfactant concentration range 0 ≦ C_S ≦ 3500 ppm. The results showed that the coefficients were enhanced at C ≦ 0.5 and in low heat flux ranges just after the onset of boiling. It was also found that the enhancement effect caused by the surfactant disappeared at surfactant concentrations of more than 1000 or 1500 ppm.     

Boiling time effect on CHF enhancement in pool boiling of nanofluids

Using TiO₂–water nanofluids as the test liquid, pool boiling experiments were carried out to investigate the dependence of the nucleate boiling heat transfer, surface wettability and critical heat flux (CHF) on the boiling time in nanofluids. In the experiments performed at sufficiently high nanoparticle concentrations, the boiling heat transfer first degraded, then improved, and finally reached an equilibrium state. It was hence supposed that the present nanofluids had competing effects to deteriorate and enhance the nucleate boiling heat transfer. As for the surface wettability and CHF, the static contact angle asymptotically decreased whilst the CHF asymptotically increased with an increase in the boiling time. The maximum CHF enhancement measured in the present experiments was 91%, and strong correlation was found between the contact angle and the CHF. Although the boiling time needed to achieve the maximum CHF enhancement was less than a minute at high particle concentrations, a longer time of the order of 1 h was necessary at the lowest particle concentration tested in this work. This experimental result indicated that sufficient attention should be paid to the boiling time effect particularly in industrial applications of nanofluids to emergency cooling.