Nucleation site interaction between artificial cavities during nucleate pool boiling on silicon with integrated micro-heater and temperature micro-sensors

Nucleate boiling is commonly characterised as a very complex and elusive process. Many involved mechanisms are still not fully understood and more detailed consideration is needed. In this study, bubble growth from micro-fabricated artificial cavities with varied spacing on a horizontal 380 μm thick silicon wafer was investigated. The horizontally oriented boiling surface was heated by a thin resistance heater integrated on the rear of the silicon test section. The temperature was measured using 16 integrated micro-sensors situated on the boiling surface, each with an artificial cavity located in its geometrical centre. Experiments with three different spacings 1.5, 1.2 and 0.84 mm in between cavities with a nominal mouth diameter of 10 μm and a depth of 80 μm were undertaken. To conduct pool boiling experiments, the test section was mounted inside a closed stainless steel boiling chamber with optical access and completely immersed in degassed fluorinert FC-72. Bubble nucleation, growth and detachment at 0.5 and 1 bar absolute pressure were investigated using high-speed imaging. The effect of decreasing inter-site distance on bubble nucleation frequency, bubble departure frequency and diameter with increasing wall superheat is presented. Furthermore, the frequency of horizontal bubble coalescence was determined. The regions of influence on the measured frequencies and bubble departure diameter were compared with recently published findings.     

Effect of nucleation site spacing on the pool boiling characteristics of a structured surface

Pool boiling characteristics of pyramidal shaped re-entrant cavities (characteristic size 40 μm) etched in silicon were evaluated in this study. A test surface was fabricated to totally eliminate back heat loss and minimize spreading in the substrate. The effect of inter-cavity spacing and convection plumes from a heat source located below the test surface on nucleate boiling parameters is documented. High speed photography was used to record and quantify the bubble departure frequency, the departure diameter, the active site density and to observe the effect of interaction between neighboring nucleation sites. Experiments were conducted in saturated FC 72 at atmospheric pressure.     

Features of boiling on an artificial surface — Bubble formation, wall temperature fluctuation and nucleation site interaction

The artificial surfaces are applied to study the pool boiling features, including the bubble behaviors, the surface temperature fluctuation, the heat transfer characteristics and nucleate site interaction. Three sets of experiments are carried out to investigate the influences of cavity shape, cavity size, cavity spacing on the boiling phenomena. Experimental results reveal that bubbling from the cylindrical as well as reentrant cavity is generally stable. The influence of cavity diameter on the bubble behaviors and the temperature fluctuation seems very weak while the effect of cavity depth cannot be neglected. As for the two cavity conditions, the bubble behaviors show the different features depending on the dimensionless cavity spacing. Three significant factors (thermal interaction, hydraulic interaction, bubble coalescence) control the nucleation site interaction, and the competition and dominance of the factors yield four interaction regimes.     

Thermal interaction effect on nucleation site distribution in subcooled boiling

An experimental work on subcooled boiling of refrigerant, R134a, to examine nucleation site distributions on both copper and stainless steel heating surfaces was performed. In order to obtain high fidelity active nucleation site density and distribution data, a high-speed digital camera was utilized to record bubble emission images from a view normal to heating surfaces. Statistical analyses on nucleation site data were done and their statistical distributions were obtained. Those experimentally observed nucleation site distributions were compared to the random spatial Poisson distribution. The comparisons showed that, rather than purely random, active nucleation site distributions on boiling surfaces are relatively more uniform. Experimental results also showed that on the copper heating surface, nucleation site distributions are slightly more uniform than on the stainless steel surface. This was concluded as the results of thermal interactions between nucleation sites with different solid thermal conductivities. A two dimensional thermal interaction model was then developed to quantitatively examine the thermal interactions between nucleation sites. The results give a reasonable explanation to the experimental observation on nucleation site distributions.     

Burnout in pool boiling the stability of boiling mechanisms

In pool boiling, when the burnout heat flux is approached, a large number of areas are observed where the heating surface is dry for short intervals. The mechanism of formation of these dry areas is different for atmosphere and low-pressure conditions. The majority of dry areas do not lead to burnout. but the odd one is suddenly fatal when it grows to cover the entire heating surface. This suddenly different behaviour can be explained qualitatively by considering the conduction of heat along the heating surface, for which a modified interpretation of the boiling curve must be used. A critical size is found beyond which dry areas keep growing. The stability properties of both nucleate and film boiling are found to depend on the imposed heat flux and explain the familiar form of the boiling curve.     

Experimental study of void fraction profiles in pool boiling on a vertical surface

An experimental study of saturated nucleate pool boiling of n-pentane on a vertical surface was conducted. The boiling surface is 120 mm high and 60 mm width. Using hot wire anemometer, void fraction profiles were measured along the height, width, and the normal of the heated surface for different heat fluxes. The output signals of the hot wire anemometer were treated in order to characterize the boiling flow. The contribution of long, average, and short bubbles along the width and the height of the heated surface are identified for various heat flux. Three different boiling regimes were defined and the transition heat flux density was determined and compared to the results of Gaertner [5]. The wavelength of vapor waves formed on the heater was measured and is higher than the critical wavelength characteristic of the Taylor instability. The experimental results showed that the wavelength is independent of the heat flux and increased along the heater height. However, the number of the wetting zones decreased because of the waves merging and stretching. The physical mechanisms that triggering critical heat flux were identified.     

微纳结构铜表面低液位池沸腾实验研究

采用两步电镀法,在改变电流密度的情况下制备出具有不同微纳结构和润湿特性的A、B两个表面,并应用于低液位饱和池沸腾的实验研究中.通过与铜表面对比,发现两个表面在低热流密度情况下,传热系数要高于铜表面,但液位降低时传热系数提升幅度较小,原因在于铜表面沸腾气泡较大,液位降低气泡脱离有很大影响,而表面A、B沸腾气泡较小,液位降...     

Water pool boiling heat transfer enhancement for modified surface tubes

This paper deals with the method of decreasing the size of heat exchanger surfaces by increasing the heat transfer coefficients and the importance of heat transfer enhancement for vaporization. We report an experimental study on surfaces modified by passive methods applied to heat transfer surfaces mechanically processed, covered with sleeves made by metallic tissues or covered with metallic porous layers performed using welding procedures. Experiments are made to investigate the heat transfer coefficient on copper tubes with a 22 mm external diameter using heat from inner source to outer vaporizing liquid. There are developed specific heat transfer correlations for each group of enhanced surfaces. The experimental data and new proposed correlations are compared with well known correlations. The results are in best agreement with the Cornwell–Houston correlation.     

Effect of surface particle interactions during pool boiling of nanofluids

The pool boiling characteristics of nanofluids is affected by the relative magnitudes of the average surface roughness and the average particle diameter. In the present work, an attempt has been made to study the interactions between the nanoparticles and the heater surface. The experimental methodology accounts for the transient nature of the boiling phenomena. The boiling curves of electro-stabilized Al₂O₃ water-based nanofluids at different concentrations on smooth and rough heaters and the burn-out heat flux have been obtained experimentally. Extensive surface profile characterization has been done using non-intrusive optical measurements and atomic force microscopy. A measure of the surface wettability has been obtained by determining the advancing contact angle. These results give an insight into the relative magnitudes of dominance of the prevalent mechanisms under different experimental conditions. Boiling on nanoparticle coated heaters has been investigated and presented as an effective solution to counter the disadvantageous transient boiling behavior of nanofluids.     

Behavioral study of alumina nanoparticles in pool boiling heat transfer on a vertical surface

Experiments were carried out to investigate the pool boiling of alumina‐water nanofluid at 0.1 g/l to 0.5 g/l of distilled water, and the nucleate pool boiling heat transfer of pure water and nanofluid at different mass concentrations were compared at and above the atmospheric pressure. At atmospheric pressure, different concentrations of nanofluids display different degrees of deterioration in boiling heat transfer. The effect of pressure and concentration of nanoparticles revealed significant enhancement in heat flux and deterioration in pool boiling. The heat transfer coefficient of 0.5 g/l alumina‐water nanofluid was compared with pure water and clearly indicates deterioration. At all pressures the heat transfer coefficients of the nanofluid were lower than those of pure water. Experimental observation revealed particles coating over the heater surface and subsequent SEM inspection of the heater surface showed nanoparticles coating on the surface forming a porous layer. To substantiate the nanoparticle deposition and its effect on heat flux, investigation was done by measuring the surface roughness of the heater surface before and after the experiment. While SEM images of the heater surface revealed nanoparticle deposition, surface roughness of the heater surface confirmed it. Based on the experimental investigations it can be concluded that an optimum thickness of nanoparticles coating favors an increase in heat flux. Higher surface temperature due to the presence of nanoparticles coating results in the deterioration of boiling heat transfer. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/htj ). DOI 10.1002/htj.20365     

Measurement of surface dryout near heating surface at high heat fluxes in subcooled pool boiling

The authors have conducted measurements of liquid–vapor behavior in the vicinity of a heating surface for saturated and subcooled pool boiling on an upward-facing copper surface by using a conductance probe method. A previous paper [A. Ono, H. Sakashita, Liquid–vapor structure near heating surface at high heat flux in subcooled pool boiling, Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer 50 (2007) 3481–3489] reported that thicknesses of a liquid rich layer (a so-called macrolayer) forming in subcooled boiling are comparable to or thicker than those formed near the critical heat flux (CHF) in saturated boiling. This paper examines the dryout behavior of the heating surface by utilizing the feature that a thin conductance probe placed very close to the heating surface can detect the formation and dryout of the macrolayer. It was found that the dryout of the macrolayer formed beneath a vapor mass occurs in the latter half of the hovering period of the vapor mass. Two-dimensional measurements conducted at 121 grid points in a 1-mm × 1-mm area at the center of the heating surface showed that the dryout commences at specific areas and spreads over the heating surface as the heat flux approaches the CHF. Furthermore, transient measurements of wall void fractions from nucleate boiling to transition boiling were conducted under the transient heating mode, showing that the wall void fraction has small values (<10%) in the nucleate boiling region, and then steeply increases in the transition boiling region. These findings strongly suggest that the macrolayer dryout model is the most appropriate model of the CHF for saturated and subcooled pool boiling of water on upward facing copper surfaces.     

Effects of surface wettability on nucleate pool boiling heat transfer for surfactant solutions

Experiments for pool boiling of deionised water and acetone with different surfactant, 95% sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), Triton X-100 and octadecylamine, have been conducted under atmospheric pressure to investigate the effect of surface wettability. The boiling curves for different concentrations of surfactant solution on both smooth and roughened surfaces were obtained. The results show that the addition of surfactant can enhance the water boiling heat transfer, and the enhancement is more obvious for SDS solution; but has little influence on the acetone boiling curve. While the roughened surface enhanced the heat transfer for Triton X-100 solution, it also decreased the heat transfer coefficient for SDS solution. All these can be explained by including the changing of surface wettability, which has been neglected for a long time and should be an important parameter influencing boiling heat transfer. By incorporating such effects, the modified Mikic-Rohsenow pool boiling model, we proposed, can predict these experimental data well.     

表面强化管外池沸腾传热特性研究

为实现节能降耗,开发了多种强化沸腾传热的高效换热管。以水为工质,在0.1MPa下对垂直光管、烧结多孔管和T槽管进行了池沸腾传热实验研究,并分析了沿管子轴向的温度分布。实验结果表明,烧结多孔管与T槽管能显著降低起始沸腾过热度、强化沸腾传热:烧结多孔管和T槽管的起始沸腾过热度比光管的低1.5K左右;烧结多孔管和T槽管的核态沸腾传热系数分别为光管的2.4～3.2倍和1.6～2.0倍。此外,烧结多孔管和T槽管能降低相同热流密度下的壁面温度,且有利于降低管子轴向的温差。     

Photographic study of pool boiling CHF from a downward-facing convex surface

Heat transfer measurements and photographic studies are performed to capture the detailed evolution of the liquid–vapor interface near critical heat flux (CHF) for a 90-degree downward-facing convex surface. The test surface, with a width of 3.2 mm and a 102.6-mm radius, consists of a series of nine heaters that dissipate equal power. Instrumentation within each heater facilitates localized heat flux and temperature measurements along the convex surface, and transparent front and back windows enable optical access to a fairly two-dimensional liquid–vapor interface. Near CHF, vapor behavior along the convex surface is cyclical, repeatedly forming a stratified vapor layer at the bottom of the convex surface, which stretches as more vapor is generated, and then flows upwards along from the surface. Subsequently, heaters at the bottom of the convex surface, followed by the other heaters, are wetted with liquid before the nucleation/coalescence/stratification/release process is repeated. This study proves that despite the pronounced thickening of the vapor layer as it propagates upwards along the convex surface, CHF always commences on the bottom of the surface.     

Analysis of pool boiling heat transfer: effect of bubbles sliding on the heating surface

Pool boiling on surfaces where sliding bubble mechanism plays an important role has been studied. The heat transfer phenomenon for such cases has been analysed. The model considers different mechanisms such as latent heat transfer due to microlayer evaporation, transient conduction due to thermal boundary layer reformation, natural convection and heat transfer due to the sliding bubbles. Both microlayer evaporation and transient conduction take place during the sliding of bubbles, which occurs in geometries such as inclined surfaces and horizontal tubes. The model has been validated against experimental results from literature for water, refrigerant R134a and propane. The model was found to agree well for these fluids over a wide range of pressures. The model shows the importance of the contributions of the different mechanisms for different fluids, wall superheats and pressures.     

Studies on pool boiling heat transfer: Macrolayer thickness in transition boiling

Macrolayer thicknesses in transition boiling were determined from the energy balance relation q_tr = ρ_lH_fgδ_l·f , based on measurements of q_tr (the time-averaged heat flux in transition boiling) and f (the detachment frequency of vapor masses) for water and ethanol boiling on vertical and horizontal 15-mm-diameter surfaces under atmospheric pressure. The macrolayer thickness for the vertical surface, designed to prevent liquid contact with the periphery of the surface during the vapor mass hovering, agreed well with the correlation proposed previously by the present authors, when the heat flux at macrolayer formation is obtained from a nucleate boiling curve extrapolated to the superheat of transition boiling. The macrolayer on the horizontal surface was apparently thickened due to the inflow of bulk liquid beneath the growing vapor masses. © 1999 Scripta Technica, Heat Trans Jpn Res, 27(8): 568–583, 1998     

Dry patch formed boiling and burnout in potassium pool boiling

Experimental results are presented on dry patch formed boiling and burnout in saturated potassium pool boiling on a horizontal plane heater for system pressures from 30 to 760 torr and liquid levels from 5 to 50 mm. The dry patch formed boiling is a peculiar boiling state where the dry patch formation and the rewetting are alternately repeated in intermittent boiling at a heat flux smaller than burnout heat flux of continuous nucleate boiling and is considered to be a local phenomenon in transient transition boiling from the observations of the wall and liquid temperature fluctuations. The dry patch formation occurs in the intermittent boiling which is often encountered when liquid alkali metals are used under relatively low pressure conditions. Burnout is caused from both continuous nucleate and dry patch formed boiling. The burnout heat flux together with nucleate boiling heat transfer coefficients are empirically correlated with system pressures. A model is also proposed to predict the minimum heat flux to form the dry patch.     

Effusivity-based correlation of surface property effects in pool boiling CHF of dielectric liquids

Although the effects of fluid properties, pressure, and subcooling, as well as heater geometry, on the pool boiling critical heat flux, or CHF, are relatively well established, explanations for the surface property effects remain controversial. Proposed formulations, embodying the dependence of CHF on the product of the heater thermal effusivity and thickness are described and compared with available data. A composite correlation for pool boiling CHF, accounting for the conduction and hydrodynamic limits, as well as the effects of pressure, subcooling, and length, is proposed. This effusivity-based correlation is found to predict a broad range of pool boiling CHF data for dielectric liquids, for thermal effusivity values between 0.2 and 120, pressure from 100 to 450 kPa, and subcoolings from 0 to 75 K, with a standard deviation of 12.5%.     

Sorption and agglutination phenomenon of nanofluids on a plain heating surface during pool boiling

The pool nucleate boiling heat transfer experiments of water (H₂O) based and alcohol (C₂H₅OH) based nanofluids and nanoparticles-suspensions on the plain heated copper surface were carried out. The study was focused on the sorption and agglutination phenomenon of nanofluids on a heated surface. The nanofluids consisted of the base liquid, the nanoparticles and the surfactant. The nanoparticles-suspensions consisted of the base liquid and nanoparticles. The both liquids of water and alcohol and both nanoparticles of CuO and SiO₂ were used. The surfactant was sodium dodecyl benzene sulphate (SDBS). The experimental results show that for nanofluids, the agglutination phenomenon occurred on the heated surface when the wall temperature was over 112 °C and steady nucleated boiling experiment could not be carried out. The reason was that an unsteady porous agglutination layer was formed on the heated surface. However, for nanoparticles-suspensions, no agglutination phenomenon occurred on the heating surface and the steady boiling could be carried out in the whole nucleate boiling region. For the both of alcohol based nanofluids and nano-suspensions, no agglutination phenomenon occurred on the heating surface and steady nucleate boiling experiment could be carried out in the whole nucleate boiling region whose wall temperature did not exceed 112 °C. The boiling heat transfer characteristics of the nanofluids and nanoparticles-suspensions are somewhat poor compared with that of the base fluids, since the decrease of the active nucleate cavities on the heating surface with a very thin nanoparticles sorption layer. The very thin nanoparticles sorption layer also caused a decrease in the solid–liquid contact angle on the heating surface which leaded to an increase of the critical heat flux (CHF).     

Investigation of pool boiling of nanofluids using artificial neural networks and correlation development techniques

The nucleate pool boiling heat transfer characteristics of TiO₂ nanofluids are investigated to determine the important parameters' effects on the heat transfer coefficient and also to have reliable empirical correlations based on the neural network analysis. Nanofluids with various concentrations of 0.0001, 0.0005, 0.005, and 0.01 vol.% are employed. The horizontal circular test plate, made from copper with different roughness values of 0.2, 2.5 and 4 μm, is used as a heating surface. The artificial neural network (ANN) training sets have the experimental data of nucleate pool boiling tests, including temperature differences between the temperatures of the average heater surface and the liquid saturation from 5.8 to 25.21 K, heat fluxes from 28.14 to 948.03 kW m^− 2. The pool boiling heat transfer coefficient is calculated using the measured results such as current, voltage, and temperatures from the experiments. Input of the ANNs are the 8 numbers of dimensional and dimensionless values of the test section, such as thermal conductivity, particle size, physical properties of the fluid, surface roughness, concentration rate of nanoparticles and wall superheating, while the outputs of the ANNs are the heat flux and experimental pool boiling heat transfer coefficient from the analysis. The nucleate pool boiling heat transfer characteristics of TiO₂ nanofluids are modeled to decide the best approach, using several ANN methods such as multi-layer perceptron (MLP), generalized regression neural network (GRNN) and radial basis networks (RBF). Elimination process of the ANN methods is performed together with the copper and aluminum test sections by means of a 4-fold cross validation algorithm. The ANNs performances are measured by mean relative error criteria with the use of unknown test sets. The performance of the method of MLP with 10-20-1 architecture, GRNN with the spread coefficient 0.7 and RBFs with the spread coefficient of 1000 and a hidden layer neuron number of 80 are found to be in good agreement, predicting the experimental pool boiling heat transfer coefficient with deviations within the range of ± 5% for all tested conditions. Dependency of output of the ANNs from input values is investigated and new ANN based heat transfer coefficient correlations are developed, taking into account the input parameters of ANNs in the paper.