An experimental investigation of pool boiling characteristics of alumina-water nanofluid over micro-/nanostructured surfaces

Abstract

Experiments were conducted to investigate the nucleate pool boiling heat transfer of pure water and alumina/water nanofluids on different micro- and nanostructured surfaces prepared via the thermal spray coating method. Results indicate that nanofluids boiling on all the test surfaces led to critical heat flux (CHF) values greater than that obtained for the base fluid (i.e., water). Higher roughness value, however, led to higher CHF values in boiling over the surfaces. Another finding of this study indicated that CHF values obtained with boiling on Cu-coated micro- and nanosurfaces were identical although the heat transfer coefficient (HTC) values obtained for boiling on the micro-structure surface were higher than those obtained for a nanostructured surface with almost the same roughness. A series of consecutive nanofluid boiling cycles were also performed on the aluminum-coated nanostructured surface. The CHF value obtained for water boiling on the surface undergoing repeated nanofluid boiling cycles was by 27% higher than that obtained for a clean surface although the relevant HTC values were nearly identical.     

Enhancement of nucleate boiling on composite surfaces

A composite heating surface composed of materials with different thermal conductivities can be expected to enhance heat transfer in nucleate boiling. This is because the end surface, with higher conductivity, will attain a higher temperature and as a result will serve to provide preferential nucleation sites. To confirm this idea, several composite surfaces were fabricated by uniaxially imbedding thin copper cylinders in the heat flow direction on a stainless steel circular plate 30 mm in diameter and 5 mm thick. The imbedded copper cylinders ranged from 1 mm to 4 mm in diameter and one to 77 in number. The heat transfer performance of these composite surfaces was investigated for pool boiling of saturated water at atmospheric pressure. It was confirmed that the copper cylinder surfaces exposed to water functioned as local hot spots to initiate preferential nucleate boiling, leading to higher boiling heat transfer coefficients than those on a homogeneous stainless steel surface. The measured void fraction above the heating surface verified intensive bubble generation on the surface of the copper cylinders. This situation continued up to a certain heat flux level and was then followed by nucleation on the mother surface of stainless steel around the copper cylinders. A numerical analysis of heat conduction within a composite wall simulated the temperature distribution within the wall and the variation in surface heat flux at the time of boiling incipience. © 1998 Scripta Technica, Heat Trans Jpn Res, 27(3): 216–228, 1998     

Leidenfrost drops on micro/nanostructured surfaces

In the Leidenfrost state, the liquid drop is levitated above a hot solid surface by a vapor layer generated via evaporation from the drop. The vapor layer thermally insulates the drop from the heating surface, causing deteriorated heat transfer in a myriad of important engineering applications. Thus, it is highly desirable to suppress the Leidenfrost effect and elevate the Leidenfrost temperature. This paper presents a comprehensive review of recent literature concerning the Leidenfrost drops on micro/nanostructured surfaces with an emphasis on the enhancement of the Leidenfrost temperature. The basic physical processes of the Leidenfrost effect and the key characteristics of the Leidenfrost drops were first introduced. Then, the major findings of the influence of various micro/nanoscale surface structures on the Leidenfrost temperature were presented in detail, and the underlying enhancement mechanism for each specific surface topology was also discussed. It was concluded that multiscale hierarchical surfaces hold the best promise to significantly boost the Leidenfrost temperature by combining the advantages of both micro- and nanoscale structures.     

Pool boiling of perfluorocarbon mixtures on silicon surfaces

The need for higher pool boiling critical heat flux (CHF) in electronic cooling applications has turned attention to the use of binary mixtures of dielectric liquids. The available literature demonstrates that the addition of a liquid with higher saturation temperature, higher molecular weight, higher viscosity and higher surface tension can lead to significant enhancement of CHF, beyond what can be achieved through changes in pressure, liquid subcooling, and the product of surface effusivity and heater thickness. The current study focuses on extending the available data on mixture CHF enhancement, as well as pool boiling, on polished silicon surfaces to FC-72/FC-40 mixture ratios of 10%, 15%, and 20% of FC-40 by weight, a pressure range of between 1 and 3 atm, and fluid temperature from 22 to 45 °C, leading to high subcooling conditions. It is found that peak heat flux can be increased to as high as 56.8 W/cm² compared to 25.2 W/cm² for pure FC-72 at 3 atm and 22 °C. It is believed that the increase in the mixture latent heat of evaporation and surface tension, accompanying the depletion of the lower boiling point fluid in the wall region plays the major role in enhancing the critical heat flux for binary mixtures.     

加热板上液滴沸腾实验研究

采用高速摄像技术研究了不同加热表面上液滴蒸发和沸腾的相变特性和壁面温度变化特性,讨论了局部相变行为对壁面温度变化的影响.同时定量的研究了三种不同表面特性的加热板对沸腾和传热的影响,以及液滴初始体积对相变的影响.结果表明,表面特性和液滴尺寸对沸腾传热有较大影响.     

An experimental study of rupture dynamics of evaporating liquid films on different heater surfaces

Experimental data were obtained to reveal the complex dynamics of thin liquid films evaporating on heated horizontal surfaces, including formation and expansion of dry spots that occur after the liquid films decreased below critical thicknesses. The critical thickness of water film evaporating on various material surfaces is measured in the range of 60–150 μm, increasing with contact angle and heat flux while decreasing with thermal conductivity of the heater material. In the case of hexane evaporating on a titanium surface, the liquid film is found resilient to rupture, but starts oscillating as the averaged film thickness decreases below 15 μm.     

Pool boiling characteristics of nanofluid on flat plate based on heater surface analysis

Nucleate pool boiling of Al₂O₃ based aqueous nanofluid on flat plate heater has been studied experimentally. For boiling of nanofluid (< 0.1 vol.%) on heating surface with ratio of average surface roughness to average diameter of particles much less than unity when boiling continue to CHF, the heat transfer coefficient of nanofluid boiling reduces while critical heat flux (CHF) increases. CHF enhancement increased with volume fraction of nanoparticles. Atomic force microscope (AFM) images from boiling surface showed that after boiling of nanofluid the surface roughness increases or decreases depending on initial condition of heater surface. Changes in boiling surface topology during different regions of boiling, wettability and thermal resistance of heater surface owing to nanoparticles deposition cause to variations in nanofluids boiling performance.     

The rate of heat transfer for boiling on porous surfaces

It is shown that the constant, C_sf, introduced by Rohsenow⁶ for correlating pool boiling heat transfer data, may be used in order to characterize plates which have been made porous.     

Experiments on pool boiling of a dielectric fluid on extended surfaces

An experimental study on pool boiling heat transfer from finned copper surfaces immersed in a saturated dielectric liquid (Galden HT-55) is presented. Two extended surfaces of different dimensions were tested using vertical and horizontal orientations. The effects of nonboiling waiting period, pressure and spine dimensions on boiling behavior were examined.A marked enhancement of heat transfer performance was observed on passing from plane to extended surfaces. Increasing the pressure improved the heat transfer coefficient and critical heat flux. The nonboiling period, orientation and pressure significantly influenced the boiling incipience and the hysteresis phenomenon that accompanies increasing and decreasing heat fluxes. Experimental data are expressed in terms of enhancement ratios of extended surfaces as a function of base surface superheat and pressure.     

Onset of transient nucleate boiling from a thick flat sample

Experiments of transient pool boiling from a thick copper sample having a large thermal inertia have been carried out with pentane in saturated conditions. Measurements show that the temperature at boiling incipience is strongly influenced by the transient procedure. The effects of some parameters, such as a waiting period between a preliminary procedure and the heat input or an initial subcooling of the surface, have also been investigated to understand the mechanism leading to a delay in boiling incipience under transient conditions.     

Enhancement of pool-boiling heat transfer using nanostructured surfaces on aluminum and copper

Enhanced pool-boiling critical heat fluxes (CHF) at reduced wall superheat on nanostructured substrates are reported. Nanostructured surfaces were realized using a low temperature process, microreactor-assisted-nanomaterial-deposition. Using this technique we deposited ZnO nanostructures on Al and Cu substrates. We observed pool-boiling CHF of 82.5 W/cm² with water as fluid for ZnO on Al versus a CHF of 23.2 W/cm² on bare Al surface with a wall superheat reduction of 25–38 °C. These CHF values on ZnO surfaces correspond to a heat transfer coefficient of ～23,000 W/m² K. We discuss our data and compare the behavior with conventional boiling theory.     

Two-tier model for nucleate pool boiling on microconfifured composite surfaces

A new model is developed to describe the heat transfer mechanism in nucleate pool boiling on a microconfigured composite surface. Both the microlayer and macrolayer thickness are determined from the model. This model can be extended to explain the nucleate boiling on plain surfaces. The enhancement mechanisms of heat transfer for the nucleate boiling on the microconfigured surface are analyzed.     

Experimental study of nucleate boiling of halocarbon refrigerants on cylindrical surfaces

The present paper reports the results of an experimental investigation of saturated pool boiling of halocarbon refrigerants on cylindrical surfaces of different materials. Experiments covered a wide range of reduced pressures and heat fluxes, being carried out on copper, brass and stainless steel surfaces with different finishing conditions. The obtained results are discussed with regard to the controlled physical and operational parameters of the investigation. An empirical correlation is proposed in terms of reduced pressures. The performance of the correlation can be deemed adequate, considering that it compares well with experimental results of different authors.     

Enhanced flow boiling heat transfer of FC-72 on micro-pin-finned surfaces

For the purpose of cooling electronic components with high heat flux efficiently, some experiments were conducted to study the flow boiling heat transfer performance of FC-72 on silicon chips. Micro-pin-fins were fabricated on the chip surface using a dry etching technique to enhance boiling heat transfer. Three different fluid velocities (0.5, 1 and 2 m/s) and three different liquid subcoolings (15, 25 and 35 K) were performed, respectively. A smooth chip (chip S) and four micro-pin-finned chips with the same fin thickness of 30 μm and different fin heights of 60 μm (chip PF30–60) and 120 μm (chip PF30–120), respectively, were tested. All the micro-pin-finned surfaces show a considerable heat transfer enhancement compared to the smooth one, and the critical heat flux increases in the order of chip S, PF30–60 and PF30–120. For a lower ratio of fin height to fin pitch and/or higher fluid velocity, the fluid velocity has a positive effect on the nucleate boiling curves for the micro-pin-finned surfaces. At the velocities lower than 1 m/s, the micro-pin-finned surfaces show a sharp increase in heat flux with increasing wall superheat, and the wall temperature at the critical heat flux (CHF) is less than the upper limit, 85 °C, for the reliable operation of LSI chips. The CHF values for all surfaces increase with fluid velocity and subcooling. The maximum CHF can reach nearly 150 W/cm² for chip PF30–120 at the fluid velocity of 2 m/s and the liquid subcooling of 35 K.     

Leidenfrost boiling of methanol droplets on hot porous/ceramic surfaces

An experimental and analytical study of film boiling methanol droplets on a porous/ceramic surface is reported. Droplet evaporation times in the wetting and film boiling regimes were measured on a polished stainless-steel surface and three ceramic/alumina surfaces of 10%, 25% and 40% porosity. It was found that the Leidenfrost temperatures increased as surface porosity increased. The Leidenfrost point of the 10% and 25% porous surfaces were nearly 100 K higher and 200 K higher, respectively, than that of the polished stainless-steel surface; methanol droplets could not be levitated on the 40% porous surface at surface temperatures as high as 620 K, which was the maximum surface temperature which could be imposed on this particular material with our apparatus. The evaporation time of liquid deposited on this surface was thus almost two orders of magnitude lower than for levitated droplets on the three other surfaces tested at the same temperature. In the Leidenfrost regime droplets evaporated faster on the porous surfaces than on the stainless-steel surface, and the evaporation time decreased with increasing surface porosity at the same surface temperature. The reduced evaporation times were thought to have their origin in a decrease of the vapor film thickness separating the droplet from the ceramic surface due to vapor absorption and flow within the ceramic material. An analysis of flow in a horizontal channel bounded by an impermeable ẇall above and a permeable wall of finite thickness below was used to model the film boiling process. The results provided a basis for correlating our evaporation time measurements.     

换热表面直接与间接测温的对比性实验研究

进行了沸腾换热表面的间接测温与直接测温的对比性实验研究。以水和乙醇作工质,对大气压力下的池沸腾换热平表面,用间接测温法和直接测温法同时测量壁面过热度,对两种测温方法的结果进行了比较研究。同时,用直接测温法进行三种不同管径的光管沸腾试验,并把实验结果与Rohsenow公式进行了比较。大量实验结果表明,在一定操作条件下,直接测温法测量沸腾换热表面过热度误差较小,是一种简便而又行之有效的方法。     

Performance of different structured surfaces in nucleate pool boiling

Several structured surfaces have been developed in-house for the augmentation of boiling heat transfer using distilled water as test fluid under atmospheric pressure. These surfaces have either a number of parallel tunnels or orthogonally intersecting tunnels. Effect of design parameters like tunnel inclination and different cavity structure at the tunnel base on the boiling heat transfer has been investigated. Three different structures namely circular groove, rectangular groove and rounded base have been used at the end of the tunnels. Heat flux is varied in the range of 0–250 kW/m². Experimental results showed tunnels inclined at an angle 60° with the horizontal provide better augmentation compared to straight vertical tunnels. Amongst different base geometry the circular pocket produced most conducive condition for the boiling heat transfer. The use of tunnels also increases the degree of augmentation. The highest augmentation was obtained from the surface having intersecting inclined tunnels with a circular base.     

Investigation of Enhanced Boiling Heat Transfer from Porous Surfaces

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