Subcooled flow boiling heat transfer and associated bubble characteristics of R-134a in a narrow annular duct

Experiments are conducted here to investigate how the channel size affects the subcooled flow boiling heat transfer and associated bubble characteristics of refrigerant R-134a in a horizontal narrow annular duct. The gap of the duct is fixed at 1.0 and 2.0 mm in this study. From the measured boiling curves, the temperature undershoot at ONB is found to be relatively significant for the subcooled flow boiling of R-134a in the duct. The R-134a subcooled flow boiling heat transfer coefficient increases with a reduction in the gap size, but decreases with an increase in the inlet liquid subcooling. Besides, raising the imposed heat flux can cause a substantial increase in the subcooled boiling heat transfer coefficient. However, the effects of the refrigerant mass flux and saturated temperature on the boiling heat transfer coefficient are small in the narrow duct. Visualization of the subcooled flow boiling processes reveals that the bubbles are suppressed to become smaller and less dense by raising the refrigerant mass flux and inlet subcooling. Moreover, raising the imposed heat flux significantly increases the bubble population, coalescence and departure frequency. The increase in the bubble departure frequency by reducing the duct size is due to the rising wall shear stress of the liquid flow, and at a high imposed heat flux many bubbles generated from the cavities on the heating surface tend to merge together to form big bubbles. Correlation for the present subcooled flow boiling heat transfer data of R-134a in the narrow annular duct is proposed. Additionally, the present data for some quantitative bubble characteristics such as the mean bubble departure diameter and frequency and the active nucleation site density are also correlated.     

水平窄空间沸腾换热的数理模型研究

窄空间只有在间距小于汽泡脱离直径时，对沸腾传热强化才有比较显的效果。窄空间沸腾强化传热的机理在于较大的泡底微层加速了蒸发传热和窄空间中被加热的液体周期性地与池液进行容积交换。水平圆盘窄空间中的汽泡生长分为性质完全不同的自由生长期和抑制长大期；在一个周期内，加热面的总传热量等于壁面传导给窄空间液体的热量与通过合体泡底微层蒸发潜热之和。在对圆形水平窄空间的沸腾传热的现象和机理进行分析的基础上，提出了窄空间的沸腾换热过程的数理模型；进而对窄空间沸腾的本质规律在理论上进行了初步探索，并得到分析解。理论计算结果与实验数据比较表明，该分析解适合于中低壁面过热度的情形。由于问题的复杂性，该模型仍需不断完善。     

Heat transfer during pool boiling based on evaporation from micro and macrolayer

An analytical model of heat transfer based on evaporation from the micro and macrolayers to the vapor bubble during pool boiling is developed. Evaporation of microlayer and macrolayer during the growth of individual bubbles is taken care of by using temporal and spatial variation of temperature in the liquid layer. Change of bubble shape during the entire cycle of bubble growth and departure is meticulously considered to find out the rate of heat transfer from the solid surface to the boiling liquid. Continuous boiling curve is developed by considering the bubble dynamics and decreasing thickness of liquid layer along with the increase of dry spot radius. Transient variation of macrolayer and microlayer thickness is predicted along with their effect on CHF. Present model exhibits a good agreement with reported experimental data as well as theories.     

Role of macrolayer evaporation in pool boiling at high heat flux

Analytical expressions for macrolayer thickness and the rate of heat transfer through a macrolayer in a high heat flux region near the critical value were reported in previous papers by the authors. The results of an experimental investigation into the liquid macrolayer formation are being reported in this paper. The initial thickness of this liquid layer formed between the heated surface and the vapour mass and the frequency of the vapour mass as a function of impressed heat flux have been measured. Using these data, the contribution of macrolayer evaporation to the heat flow from heated surface to bulk has been estimated. Experimental results of macrolayer thickness and frequency of vapour mass have been found to compare well with analytically predicted values. Contribution of heat conduction through the macrolayer has also been found to account for a considerable portion of wall heat flux.     

Saturated flow boiling heat transfer and associated bubble characteristics of R-134a in a narrow annular duct

Experiments are conducted here to investigate how the channel size affects the saturated flow boiling heat transfer and associated bubble characteristics of refrigerant R-134a in a horizontal narrow annular duct. The gap of the duct is fixed at 1.0 and 2.0 mm in this study. The measured heat transfer data indicate that the saturated flow boiling heat transfer coefficient increases with a decrease in the gap of the duct. Besides, raising the imposed heat flux can cause a significant increase in the boiling heat transfer coefficients. However, the effects of the refrigerant mass flux and saturated temperature on the boiling heat transfer coefficient are milder. The results from the flow visualization show that the mean diameter of the bubbles departing from the heating surface decreases slightly at increasing R-134a mass flux. Moreover, the bubble departure frequency increases at reducing duct size mainly due to the rising shear stress of the liquid flow, and at a high imposed heat flux many bubbles generated from the cavities in the heating surface tend to merge together to form big bubbles. Correlation for the present saturated flow boiling heat transfer data of R-134a in the narrow annular duct is proposed. Additionally, data for some quantitative bubble characteristics such as the mean bubble departure diameter and frequency and the active nucleation site density are also correlated.     

Saturated flow boiling heat transfer of R-407C and associated bubble characteristics in a narrow annular duct

Experiments are conducted here to investigate how the channel size affects the R-407C saturated flow boiling heat transfer and associated bubble characteristics in a horizontal narrow annular duct. The gap of the duct is fixed at 1.0 and 2.0 mm in this study. The measured data indicate that the saturated flow boiling heat transfer coefficient increases with a decrease in the duct gap. Besides, raising the imposed heat flux can cause a significant increase in the boiling heat transfer coefficients. However, the effects of the refrigerant mass flux and saturated temperature on the boiling heat transfer coefficient are milder. The results from the flow visualization show that the mean diameter of the bubbles departing from the heating surface decreases noticeably at increasing R-407C mass flux. Moreover, the bubble departure frequency increases at reducing duct size and at a high imposed heat flux many bubbles generated from the cavities in the heating surface tend to merge together to form big bubbles. Meanwhile comparison of the present heat transfer data for R-407C with R-134a in the same duct and with some existing correlations is conducted. Furthermore, correlation for the present R-407C saturated flow boiling heat transfer data is proposed. Additionally, the present data for some quantitative bubble characteristics such as the mean bubble departure diameter and frequency and the active nucleation site density are also correlated.     

Time and space resolved wall temperature and heat flux measurements during nucleate boiling with constant heat flux boundary conditions

The lack of time and space resolved measurements under nucleating bubbles has complicated efforts to fully explain pool-boiling phenomena. In this work, time and space resolved temperature and heat flux distributions under nucleating bubbles on a constant heat flux surface were obtained using a 10 × 10 microheater array with 100 μm resolution along with high-speed images. A numerical simulation was used to compute the substrate conduction, which was then subtracted from the heater power to obtain the wall-to-liquid heat transfer. The data indicated that most of the energy required for bubble growth came from the superheated layer around the bubble. Microlayer evaporation and contact line heat transfer accounted for not more than 23% of the total heat transferred from the surface. The dominant heat transfer mechanism was transient conduction into the liquid during bubble departure. Bubble coalescence was not observed to transfer a significant amount of heat.     

Saturated flow boiling heat transfer of R-410A and associated bubble characteristics in a narrow annular duct

Experiments are conducted here to investigate how the channel size affects the R-410A saturated flow boiling heat transfer and associated bubble characteristics in a horizontal narrow annular duct. The gap of the duct is fixed at 1.0 and 2.0 mm in this study. The measured data indicate that the saturated flow boiling heat transfer coefficient increases with increasing refrigerant mass flux and saturated temperature and with a decrease in the gap size. Besides, raising the imposed heat flux can cause a significant increase in the boiling heat transfer coefficient. The results from the flow visualization show that the mean diameter of the bubbles departing from the heating surface decreases slightly with increasing refrigerant mass flux and saturated temperature. Moreover, the bubble departure frequency increases at reducing duct size and increasing mass flux. And at a high imposed heat flux many bubbles generated from the cavities in the heating surface tend to merge together to form big bubbles. Meanwhile, comparisons of the present heat transfer data for R-410A with R-407C and R-134a in the same duct and with some existing correlations are conducted. Furthermore, an empirical correlation for the present R-410A saturated flow boiling heat transfer data is proposed.     

Coalescence of bubbles in nucleate boiling on microheaters

In this paper, an experiment was performed which is based on a heating surface consisting of microheaters where the temperature of each heater can be individually controlled by an electronic feedback loop. The power consumed by the heaters throughout the cycle of individual bubble growth, coalescence, detachment and departure was measured at high frequencies, thus the heat flux and its variation were obtained. By a careful timing and control of two individual microheaters, we were able to produce two individual bubbles side-by-side. The coalescence would takes place when they grow to a certain size that allows them to touch each other. We have recorded two major heat flux spikes for a typical cycle of boiling with coalescence. The first one corresponds to the nucleation of bubbles; the second one is for the coalescence of the two bubbles. We found that the heat flux variation is closely related to the bubble dynamics and bubble-bubble interaction. By comparing with the single bubble results without coalescence, we also found that the heat transfer is highly enhanced due to the coalescence.     

Non-heating simulation of pool-boiling critical heat flux

This paper presents a non-heating experimental method that simulates the critical heat flux (CHF) phenomenon in pool boiling. In the experiments, with providing controlled air flow through the holes on a plate submerged in a pool of water, the liquid sublayer (macrolayer) thickness and bubble departure frequency have been successfully measured by a conductance probe. The CHF is reasonably predicted by applying the measured parameters to a liquid macrolayer dryout model. The measured trends of the macrolayer thickness and bubble departure frequency with air mass flux are also consistent with the present understanding. As a result of this experimental study, it is expected that the non-heating method would be useful to investigate the various parametric effects on pool and flow boiling CHF, with avoiding the difficulty in heating and large electric power requirement even for complex geometries.     

Bubble Dynamics and Heat Transfer During Pool Boiling on Wettability Patterned Surfaces

Surfaces with spatial wettability patterns have been proven to enhance heat transfer coefficient and critical heat flux in pool boiling. To understand the physical mechanism behind this phenomenon and obtain the correlation among some critical parameters (bubble departure frequency, bubble size, nucleation site density, surface tension), pool boiling experiments were conducted. A Pyrex glass with a layer of indium-tin-oxide was used as the substrate. Hydrophobic patterns will serve as nucleation sites. Experiments were conducted in deionized water under atmospheric pressure at a relatively low heat flux. The processes of nucleation, growth, and departure of individual bubbles were visualized by using a high speed camera through the bottom of the heater surface. It has been found that the patterned surface performed the best in heat transfer for subcooled pool boiling when compared with hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces. The nucleation site density of the biphilic surface was much higher, when compared with that of the homogeneous surface. The individual bubbles always nucleate on the edge of the hydrophobic and hydrophilic area, and then move onto the hydrophobic pattern. Most of the individual bubbles detach from the wettability patterned surface in the diameter range from 300 µm to 450 µm (around 77.3%). The bubble departure periods scatter in the range from 80 ms to 1500 ms.     

Temperature measurements near a heating surface at high heat fluxes in subcooled pool boiling

In previous papers (Int J Heat Mass Transfer, 2008;50:3481–3489, 2009;52: 814–821), the authors conducted measurements of liquid–vapor structures in the vicinity of a heating surface for subcooled pool boiling on an upward‐facing copper surface by using a conducting probe method. We reported that the macrolayer dryout model is the most appropriate model of the CHF and that the reason why the CHF increases with increasing subcooling is most likely that a thick macrolayer is able to form beneath large vapor masses and the lowest heat flux of the vapor mass region shifts towards the higher heat flux. To develop a mechanistic model of the CHF for subcooled boiling, therefore, it is necessary to elucidate the effects of local subcooling on boiling behaviors in the vicinity of a heating surface. This paper measured local temperatures close to a heating surface using a micro‐thermocouple at high heat fluxes for water boiling on an upward‐facing surface in the 0 to 40 K range of subcooling. A value for the effective subcooling, defined as the local subcooling during the period while vapor masses are being formed was estimated from the detected bottom peaks of the temperature fluctuations. It was established that the effective subcooling adjacent to the surface remains at considerably lower values than the bulk liquid subcooling. This suggests that, from nucleation to coalescence, the subcooling of a bulk liquid has a smaller effect on the behavior of primary bubbles than the extent of the subcooling would appear to suggest. An empirical correlation of the effective subcooling is proposed to provide a step towards quantitative modeling of the CHF for subcooled boiling. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20277     

水平窄空间沸腾传热的实验研究

通过对五种尺寸的窄空间试验元件分别以水和乙醇做工质进行实验。研究了窄空间间距、窄空间尺寸、不同工质及不同热流密度对窄空间沸腾性能的影响。结果表明：当窄空间尺寸与热流通等因素组合恰当时。其换热系数可比大空间池沸腾提高3～6倍；临界热流密度有所降低。     

Subcooled flow boiling heat transfer of R-407C and associated bubble characteristics in a narrow annular duct

An experiment is conducted here to investigate how the channel size affects the subcooled flow boiling heat transfer and the associated bubble characteristics of refrigerant R-407C in a horizontal narrow annular duct with the gap of the duct fixed at 1.0 and 2.0 mm. The measured boiling curves indicate that the temperature overshoot at ONB is relatively significant for the subcooled flow boiling of R-407C in the duct. Besides, the subcooled flow boiling heat transfer coefficient increases with a reduction in the duct gap, but decreases with an increase in the inlet liquid subcooling. Moreover, raising the heat flux imposed on the duct can cause a significant increase in the boiling heat transfer coefficients. However, the effects of the refrigerant mass flux and saturated temperature on the boiling heat transfer coefficient are slighter. Visualization of the subcooled flow boiling processes in the duct reveals that the bubbles are suppressed to become smaller and less dense by raising the refrigerant mass flux and inlet subcooling. Raising the imposed heat flux, however, produces positive effects on the bubble population, coalescence and departure frequency. Meanwhile, the present heat transfer data for R-407C are compared with the R-134a data measured in the same duct and with some existing correlations. We also propose empirical correlations for the present data for the R-407C subcooled flow boiling heat transfer and some quantitative bubble characteristics such as the mean bubble departure diameter and frequency and the active nucleation site density.     

Configuration of the micro-layer and characteristics of heat transfer in a narrow gap mini/micro-channel boiling system

Heat transfer measurements were performed in a mini/micro-channel boiling system for water, and the thickness of the micro-layer that formed between the heating surface and the generated vapor under vapor growth was measured by application of the laser extinction method for narrow gaps of 0.5, 0.3 and 0.15 mm. The process of bubble growth was recorded by using a high-speed camera simultaneously. The effects of gap size, the velocity of vapor bubble forefront and the distance from the incipient bubble site were investigated on the micro-layer thickness in a narrow gap mini/micro-channel boiling system and the configuration of the thin liquid micro-layer distributions on the heat transfer surface was clarified. Furthermore, factors that would possibly affect the mechanism and characteristics of heat transfer, such as the position of the generated vapor bubble, the velocity of the vapor forefront, the micro-layer dominant period and the liquid saturation period in the boiling cycle, and so forth, were quantitatively investigated and analyzed on the basis of the measured data. The heat transfer characteristics were analyzed and the data calculated were coincided with the measured data in the boiling curve for the gap size of 0.5 and 0.25 mm measured in the previous report. It was shown that the heat transfer was enhanced due to the micro-layer evaporation.     

Boiling heat transfer in a narrow space controlled by punched interference plate

An experiment on pool boiling in methanol was performed for a case in which the boiling space was controlled by an interference plate with many holes. The narrow space, 0.12 mm in thickness, between the heat transfer surface and the interference plate was hermetically sealed at the perimeter. Therefore, the vapor and liquid were only exchanged through the holes in the interference plate. The degree of superheat at the onset of boiling was 0.7 K without overshoot at 10‐mm plate thickness, 1‐mm hole diameter, and 3.85‐mm hole pitch. The critical heat flux obtained was the same value without the interference plate mentioned above. The interference plate disturbed free convection and a superheat layer was provided under small heat flux on the heat transfer surface. The critical bubble diameter for the onset of boiling was decreased as the temperature of the superheat layer was increased. Thus, the degree of superheat at the onset of boiling was decreased. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 33(7): 462–471, 2004; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20028     

Interaction of two cavitation bubbles in a tube and its effects on heat transfer

When two cavitation bubbles exist in a confined space, the interaction between the bubbles significantly affects the characteristics of bubble dynamic behaviors. In this paper, a three-dimensional (3D) model is established to study the growth and collapse of two cavitation bubbles in a heated tube and its effects on heat transfer. The liquid and gas phases throughout the calculation domain are solved by a set of Navier-Stokes equations. It is assumed that the gas inside the bubble is compressible vapor, and the surrounding liquid is incompressible water. The mass transfer between two phases is ignored. The calculated bubble profiles were compared to the available experimental data, and a good agreement has been achieved. Then, the relationship among the bubble motion, flow field and pressure distributions was analyzed. On this basis, the effects of bubble interaction on the heat transfer between the wall surface and sounding liquid were discussed. It is found that heat transfer in the centre wall region is enhanced owing to the vortex flow and micro-jet induced by the bubble contraction and collapse. In contrast, the highest surface temperature appears in the surrounding region, which is mainly attributed to the thermal resistance induced by the bubble. The present study is helpful to understand the heat transfer phenomenon with cavitation in the liquid.     

Bubble growth and horizontal coalescence in saturated pool boiling on a titanium foil,investigated by high-speed IR thermography

Growth of an isolated bubble and horizontal coalescence events between bubbles of dissimilar size were examined during pool nucleate boiling of water on a horizontal, electrically-heated titanium foil 25 μm thick. Wall temperature measurements on the back of the foil by high-speed IR camera, synchronized with high-speed video camera recordings of the bubble motion, improved the temporal and spatial resolution of previous observations by high-speed liquid crystal thermography to 1 ms and 40 μm, respectively, leading to better detailed maps of the transient distributions of wall heat flux. The observations revealed complex behaviour that disagreed with some other observations and current modelling assumptions for the mechanisms of heat transfer over the wall contact areas of bubbles and interactions between bubbles. Heat transfer occurred from the entire contact area and was not confined to a narrow peripheral triple-contact zone. There was evidence of an asymmetrical interaction between bubbles before coalescence. It was hypothesised that a fast-growing bubble pushed superheated liquid under a slow-growing bubble. Contact of this liquid with regions of the wall that had been pre-cooled during bubble growth caused local reductions in the wall heat flux. During coalescence, movement of liquid under both bubbles caused further changes in the wall heat flux that also depended on pre-cooling. Contraction of the contact area caused a peripheral reduction in the heat flux and there was no evidence of a large increase in heat flux during detachment. Boiling on very thin foils imposes special conditions. Sensitivity to the thermal history of the wall must be taken into account when applying the observations and hypotheses to other conditions.     

Effects of heat exchanger tube geometries on nucleate pool boiling heat transfer in a scaled in-containment refueling water storage tank

To determine the combined effects of the heat exchanger tube geometries of advanced light water reactors (ALWRs) passive residual heat removal system (PRHRS) on the nucleate pool boiling heat transfer in a scaled in-containment refueling water storage tank (IRWST), a total of 1,966 data (1,076 with horizontal tubes and 890 with vertical tubes) for q″ versus ΔT has been obtained using various combinations of tube diameters, surface roughness, and tube orientation. The experimental results show that (1) for both horizontal and vertical tubes, increased surface roughness enhances heat transfer whereas increased tube diameter decreases heat transfer, (2) both effects of the surface roughness and the tube diameter on the nucleate pool boiling heat transfer are significantly greater for vertical tubes than horizontal tubes, (3) the effectiveness of two heat transfer mechanisms, i.e., enhanced heat transfer dur to liquid agitation by bubbles generated and reduced heat transfer by the formation of large vapor slugs and bubble coalescence, depends on the combined effects of the heat flux, surface roughness, and the tube orientation. In addition, two different forms of empirical heat transfer correlations are obtained that fit present experimental data within +35 and −20%.     

Pool boiling heat transfer on the tube surface in an inclined annulus

An experimental study was carried out to investigate the pool boiling heat transfer in an inclined annular tube submerged in a pool of saturated water at atmospheric pressure. The outer diameter and the length of the heated inner tube were 25.4 mm and 500 mm, respectively. The gap size of the annulus was 15 mm. For the tests, annuli with both open and closed bottoms were considered. The inclination angle was varied from the horizontal position to the vertical position. At a given heat flux, the heat transfer coefficient was increased with the inclination angle increase. Effects of the inclination angle on heat transfer were more clearly observed in the annulus with open bottoms. The main cause for the tendencies was considered as the difference in the intensity of liquid agitation and bubble coalescence due to the enclosure by the outer tube. One of the important factors in the annulus with open bottom was the convective fluid flow.