Experimental Study of Nucleate Pool Boiling of FC-72 on Smooth Surface under Microgravity

Experiments of highly subcooled nucleate pool boiling of FC-72 with dissolved air were studied both in short-term microgravity condition utilizing the drop tower Beijing and in normal gravity conditions. The bubble behavior and heat transfer of air-dissolved FC-72 on a small scale silicon chip (10 × 10 × 0.5 mm³) were obtained at the bulk liquid subcooling of 41 K and nominal pressure of 102 kPa. The boiling heat transfer performance in low heat flux region in microgravity is similar to that in normal gravity condition, while vapor bubbles increase in size but little coalescence occurs among bubbles, and then forms a large bubble remains attached to the heater surface during the whole microgravity period. Thermocapillary convection may be an important mechanism of boiling heat transfer in this case. With further increasing in heat flux to the fully developed nucleate boiling region, the vapor bubbles number as well as their size significantly increase in microgravity. Rapid coalescence occurs among adjacent bubbles and then the coalesced large bubble can depart from the heating surface during the microgravity period. The reason of the large bubble departure is mainly attributed to the momentum effects caused by the coalescence of small bubbles with the large one. Hence, the steady-state pool boiling can still be obtained in microgravity. In the high heat flux regime near the critical heat flux, significant deterioration of heat transfer was observed, and a large coalesced bubble forms quickly and almost covers the whole heater surface, leading to the occurrence of the critical heat flux in microgravity condition.     

Pool boiling heat transfer in microgravity

A temperature-controlled pool boiling (TCPB) device has been developed to study the bubble behaviors and heat transfer in pool boiling phenomenon both in normal gravity and in microgravity. The results on heat transfer and bubble dynamic behavior in the experiments aboard the 22^nd Chinese recoverable satellite and those in normal gravity before and after the flight experiment are reported and discussed in the present paper. The onset-boiling temperature is independent, or at least, dependent much weakly on gravity. Heat transfer of nucleate boiling in microgravity is slightly enhanced, while the scale of CHF with gravity is contrary to the traditional viewpoint and can be predicted by LD-Zuber correlation. A forward-and-backward lateral motion of vapor bubbles is observed along the wire before their departure from the wire in microgravity, while three critical bubble diameters divide the observed vapor bubbles into four regions in microgravity. These distinctive bubble behavior can be interpreted by Marangoni effects.     

Effect of gravity on pool boiling heat transfer on thermal spray coating

This study deals with heat transfer enhancement surface manufactured by thermal spraying. Two thermal spraying methods using copper as a coating material, wire flame spraying (WFS) and vacuum plasma spraying (VPS), were applied to the outside of copper cylinder with 20 mm OD. The surface structure by WFS was denser than that by VPS. The effect of gravity on boiling heat transfer coeffcient and wall superheat at the onset of boiling were experimentally evaluated under micro- and hyper-gravity condition during a parabolic trajectory flight of an airplane. Pool boiling experiments in saturated liquid of HCFC123 were carried out for heat fluxes between 1.0 and 160 kW/m² and saturated temperature of 30 °C. As a result, the surface by VPS produced higher heat transfer coefficient and lower superheat at the onset of boiling under microgravity. For the smooth surface, the effect of gravity on boiling heat transfer coefficient was a little. For the coating, a large difference in heat transfer coefficient to gravity was observed in the moderate heat flux range. The heat transfer coefficinet decreased as gravity changed from the normal to hypergravity, and was improved as gravity changed from the hyperto microgravity. The difference in heat transfer coefficient between the normal and microgravity was a little. Heat transfer enhancement factor was kept over the experimental range of heat flux. It can be said that boiling behavior on thermal spray coating might be influenced by flow convection velocity.     

Bubble Behavior and Heat Transfer in Quasi-Steady Pool Boiling in Microgravity

Pool boiling of degassed FC-72 on a plane plate heater has been studied experimentally in microgravity. A quasi-steady heating method is adopted, in which the heating voltage is controlled to increase exponentially with time. Compared with terrestrial experiments, bubble behaviors are very different, and have direct effect on heat transfer. Small, primary bubbles attached on the surface seem to be able to suppress the activation of the cavities in the neighborhoods, resulting in a slow increase of the wall temperature with the heat flux. For the high subcooling, the coalesced bubble has a smooth surface and a small size. It is difficult to cover the whole heater surface, resulting in a special region of gradual transitional boiling in which nucleate boiling and local dry area can co-exist. No turning point corresponding to the transition from nucleate boiling to film boiling can be observed. On the contrary, the surface oscillation of the coalesced bubble at low subcooling may cause more activated nucleate sites, and then the surface temperature may keep constant or even fall down with the increasing heat flux. Furthermore, an abrupt transition to film boiling can also be observed. It is shown that heat transfer coefficient and CHF increase with the subcooling or pressure in microgravity, as observed in normal gravity. But the value of CHF is quite lower in microgravity, which may be only about one third of that at the similar pressure and subcooling in terrestrial condition.     

Heat transfer in liquid nitrogen—methane mixtures under pressure

Heat transfer in nitrogen—methane mixtures (0 to 100 molar per cent CH₄) was studied in the bubble boiling range under pressures up to 3.5 MPa.For a given heat flux density in all mixtures the temperature differences are higher than in the adjacent pure componentThe maximum heat flux densities have a maximum between 90 and 70 molar per cent methane (for lower and higher pressures, respectively) with the absolute values being higher than for the pure components     

Bubble — bubbles — boiling

A short overview of boiling research in microgravity performed during the past two decades is subject of this presentation. The research was concentrated on pool boiling without applying any external forces. The objective of this research was to answer the questions: Is boiling an appropriate mechanism of heat transfer in space applications, and how do heat transfer and bubble dynamics behave without buoyancy, shear or electrical field forces? Is bubble dynamics itself being able to maintain heat transfer during boiling? The correlations used today to calculate heat transfer coefficients for practical applications in pool boiling are more or less based on the assumption that buoyancy detaches the bubbles from the heating surface and carry vapor with hot liquid away. With this model heat transfer would break down in microgravity. That’s why microgravity itself is an outstanding environment to study boiling in order to gain a better understanding of the complex interrelated physical mechanisms. Various carrier systems that allow simulation of microgravity could be used, such as drop tower ZARM, drop shaft JAMIC, parabolic trajectories with NASA’s aircraft KC-135, ballistic rockets TEXUS, and finally three Space Shuttle missions. As far as the possibilities of the respective mission allowed, a systematic research program [1] was followed, which was continuously adjusted and updated to new results and parameters. We discuss the hydrodynamic and thermal behavior of single bubbles, the dynamics during coalescence processes and the interaction of bubbles at the hot wall during boiling with the processes: boundary layer superheat, nucleation, bubble growth, detachment and departure. Surprising results have been obtained, that not only saturated and subcooled boiling can be maintained in microgravity, but also that at lower heat fluxes an enhancement of heat transfer compared to terrestrial was observed, while most today used empirical correlations show a strong decrease extrapolated to lower gravity values. However, it must be pointed out that also the maximum accessible heat flux, the so called “critical heat flux”, is higher than predicted by present used relations, but as far as reliable values are available, reduced by about 50 % compared to terrestrials. With the simultaneously observed bubble dynamics the heat transfer results can be interpreted and both give rise to a better physical understanding of the boiling process.     

Experimental Study of Subcooled Flow Boiling Heat Transfer on a Smooth Surface in Short-Term Microgravity

The flow boiling heat transfer characteristics of subcooled air-dissolved FC-72 on a smooth surface (chip S) were studied in microgravity by utilizing the drop tower facility in Beijing. The heater, with dimensions of 40 × 10 × 0.5 mm³ (length × width × thickness), was combined with two silicon chips with the dimensions of 20 × 10 × 0.5 mm³. High-speed visualization was used to supplement observation in the heat transfer and vapor-liquid two-phase flow characteristics. In the low and moderate heat fluxes region, the flow boiling of chip S at inlet velocity V =?0.5 m/s shows almost the same regulations as that in pool boiling. All the wall temperatures at different positions along the heater in microgravity are slightly lower than that in normal gravity, which indicates slight heat transfer enhancement. However, in the high heat flux region, the pool boiling of chip S shows much evident deterioration of heat transfer compared with that of flow boiling in microgravity. Moreover, the bubbles of flow boiling in microgravity become larger than that in normal gravity due to the lack of buoyancy Although the difference of the void fraction in x-y plain becomes larger with increasing heat flux under different gravity levels, it shows nearly no effect on heat transfer performance except for critical heat flux (CHF). Once the void fraction in y-z plain at the end of the heater equals 1, the vapor blanket will be formed quickly and transmit from downstream to upstream along the heater, and CHF occurs. Thus, the height of channel is an important parameter to determine CHF in microgravity at a fixed velocity. The flow boiling of chip S at inlet velocity V =?0.5 m/s shows higher CHF than that of pool boiling because of the inertia force, and the CHF under microgravity is about 78–92% of that in normal gravity.     

液氢空间贮存过程膜态沸腾数值模拟

为实现液氢在空间中安全高效应用,针对微重力条件下液氢膜态沸腾现象,建立了加热细丝浸没在过冷液氢池中的数值计算模型.采用VOF方法捕捉相界面,相变模型选取Lee模型,利用文献中的实验数据验证了模型的准确性.从气泡运动行为和换热特性两方面开展研究,结果发现液体过冷度和重力水平是影响换热机理的两个重要因素.在高重力水平、低液...     

竖直矩形可视化流动沸腾换热实验台的设计及初步研究

为了了解矩形窄通道内流动沸腾及传热现象的机理,建立了单面加热竖直矩形窄通道可视化流动沸腾换热实验台进行了实验。实验结果表明:矩形窄通道流动沸腾过程的换热系数存在最大值;随着干度的增加(即热流密度的增加)其换热系数逐渐降低,转为以液膜蒸发为主的流动沸腾换热,此时需控制热流密度,避免干涸现象的发生。     

An experimental investigation of saturated flow boiling heat transfer and pressure drop in square microchannels

In this study, saturated flow boiling characteristics of deionized water in parallel microchannels are investigated experimentally. The silicone microchannel heat sink consists of 29 parallel square microchannels having hydraulic diameters of 150 µm. Experiments have been conducted for four different values of the mass flux consisting of 51, 64.5, 78 and 92.6 kg/m²s and heat flux values from 59.3 to 84.1 kW/m². Inlet temperature of deionized water is kept at 50 ± 1 °C. Heat transfer and pressure drop are examined for varying values of the governing parameters. Simultaneous high-speed video images have been taken as well as temperature and pressure measurements. The flow visualization results lead to key findings for flow boiling instabilities and underlying physical mechanisms of heat transfer in microchannels. Quasi-periodical rewetting and drying, rapid bubble growth and elongation toward both upstream and downstream of the channels and reverse flow are observed in parallel microchannels.     

Experiments on dry-out during flow boiling in a round minichannel

Temperature measurements during flow boiling of R134a in a 0.96 mm single circular channel are reported in order to provide a criterion for the determination of the critical conditions in the channel. The flow boiling heat transfer is obtained by using a secondary fluid; the wall temperature displays larger fluctuations in the zone where dryout occurs. These temperature fluctuations in the wall denote the presence of a liquid film drying up at the wall with some kind of an oscillating process. These temperature fluctuations never appear during condensation tests, neither are present during flow boiling at low vapour qualities. The fluctuations also disappear in the post-critical condition zone. Experimental values of dryout quality measured with the above method are reported in this paper at mass velocity ranging between 300 and 600 kg m^?2s^?1. In the practical applications of flow boiling, the dryout quality is a key parameter in the two-phase systems for cooling of devices, both for ground and microgravity applications. The test conditions reported here refer to relatively high mass velocities, and are obtained at earth gravity. Nevertheless, since the critical heat flux differences between the two gravity environments decrease with increasing velocity, the present data may also be used for inertia dominated systems at low g.     

Condensation and Collapse of Vapor Bubbles Injected in Subcooled Pool

We focus on condensation and collapse processes of vapor bubble(s) in a subcooled pool. We generate the vapor in the vapor generator and inject it/them to form vapor bubble(s) at a designated temperature into the liquid at a designated degree of subcooling. In order to evaluate the effect of induced flow around the condensing/collapsing vapor bubble, two different boundary conditions are employed; that is, the vapor is injected through the orifice and the tube. We also focus on interaction between/among the condensing/collapsing vapor bubbles laterally injected to the pool. Through this system we try to simulate an interaction between the vapor bubble and the subcooled bulk in a complex boiling phenomenon, especially that known as MEB (microbubble emission boiling) in which a higher heat flux than critical heat flux (CHF) accompanying with emission of micrometer-scale bubbles from the heated surface against the gravity is realized under a rather high subcooled condition.     

Bubble Dynamics in Nucleate Pool Boiling on Thin Wires in Microgravity

A temperature-controlled pool boiling (TCPB) device has been developed to study the bubble behavior and heat transfer in pool boiling phenomenon both in normal gravity and in microgravity. A thin platinum wire of 60 μm in diameter and 30 mm in length is simultaneously used as heater and thermometer. The fluid is R113 at 0.1 MPa and subcooled by 26°C nominally for all cases. Three modes of heat transfer, namely single-phase natural convection, nucleate boiling, and two-mode transition boiling, are observed in the experiment both in microgravity aboard the 22nd Chinese recoverable satellite and in normal gravity on the ground before and after the space flight. Dynamic behaviors of vapor bubbles observed in these experiments are reported and analyzed in the present paper. In the regime of fully developed nucleate boiling, the interface oscillation due to coalescence of adjacent tiny bubbles is the primary reason of the departure of bubbles in microgravity. On the contrary, in the discrete bubble regime, it’s observed that there exist three critical bubble diameters in microgravity, dividing the whole range of the observed bubbles into four regimes. Firstly, tiny bubbles are continually forming and growing on the heating surface before departing slowly from the wire when their sizes exceed some value of the order of 10⁻¹ mm. The bigger bubbles with about several millimeters in diameter stay on the wire, oscillate along the wire, and coalesce with adjacent bubbles. The biggest bubble with diameter of the order of 10 mm, which was formed immediately after the onset of boiling, stays continuously on the wire and swallows continually up adjacent small bubbles until its size exceeds another critical value. The same behavior of tiny bubbles can also be observed in normal gravity, while the others are observed only in microgravity. Considering the Marangoni effect, a mechanistic model about bubble departure is presented to reveal the mechanism underlying this phenomenon. The predictions are qualitatively consistent with the experimental observations.     

Liquid vapour phase change on a single nucleation site: Heat and mass transfer

In this paper experimental results of heat and mass transfer variations during a single vapour bubble growth are carried out. The vapour bubble was created in a FC-72 liquid, on a downward facing heating element maintained at constant heating power. Heat flux and temperature measurements combined with image processing enable us to study the influence, on heat transfer, of the level of liquid subcooling, the heating power applied on the nucleation surface and the nucleation surface’s inclination. It was found that the phase change heat flux (i.e. the difference between the flux of evaporation and the flux of condensation) and the total heat flux (measured with fluxmeter and due to convection, conduction and phase change) decreased in the same order of magnitude when the level of subcooling was increased. When the heating power increased, the total heat flux increased whereas the phase change heat flux varied in a non-significant way. It was also found that the total heat flux depends on the nucleation surface inclination, whereas, for small angles, the phase change heat flux didn’t change. The analysis of those results lead to the conclusion that during boiling the liquid motions due to the bubble growth and departure play an important role in the heat transfer enhancement.     

竖直狭缝通道中液氮沸腾强化换热的实验研究

实验表明，狭缝间隙对液氮自然对流核态沸腾换热有明显的影响，在低热流密度下，间隙小的狭缝沸腾换热比间隙大的狭缝明显增强，当狭缝间隙小于实验压力下气泡的脱离直径时，对于同样的热流密度，传热温差减小一个数量级以上，沸腾换热系数提高十几倍到二十倍以上，当热流密度增加一定程度（＞4W/cm^2)时，间隙小的狭缝沸腾换热比间隙大的狭缝有所减弱。     

Some unique features of heat liberation in boiling of hydrocarbon fuels in large volume

Heat liberation coefficients are measured for boiling of hydrocarbon fuels in large volume at pressures up to 0.31 MPa. It is established that oxygen dissolved in the fuels encourages formation of precipitates and affects heat exchange during boiling. The dependence of the heat liberation coefficient upon thermal flux and pressure is presented for bubble bailing of deoxygenated fuels.Translated from Inzhenerno-fizicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 59, No. 4, pp. 583–586, October, 1990.     

Forced flow boiling heat transfer of liquid hydrogen for superconductor cooling

Heat transfer from inner side of a heated vertical pipe to liquid hydrogen flowing upward was first measured at the pressure of 0.7 MPa for wide ranges of flow rates and liquid temperatures. The heat transfer coefficients in non-boiling regime for each flow velocity were well in agreement with the Dittus–Boelter equation. The heat fluxes at the inception of boiling and the departure from nucleate boiling (DNB) heat fluxes are higher for higher flow velocity and subcooling. It was found that the trend of dependence of the DNB heat flux on flow velocity was expressed by the correlation derived by Hata et al. based on their data for subcooled flow boiling of water, although it has different propensity to subcooling.     

Numerical Investigation of Bubble Induced Marangoni Convection: Some Aspects of Bubble Geometry

Thermocapillary or Marangoni convection is a surface tension driven flow that occurs when a gas–liquid or vapor–liquid interface is subjected to a temperature gradient. In the past, the contribution to local heat transfer arising from Marangoni convection has been overlooked as insignificant since under earth gravity it is overshadowed by buoyant convection. This study numerically investigates some aspects of bubble size and shape on local wall heat transfer resulting from Marangoni convection about individual bubbles on a heated wall immersed in a liquid silicone oil layer (Pr = 110) of depth 5 mm. It was found that increasing bubble volume causes an increase in the area over which Marangoni convection has affect. Heat transfer therefore increases with bubble size. Over the effective area, the surface averaged hot wall heat transfer is not affected greatly by bubble shape. The surface averaged heat transfer over the effective area on both the hot and cold walls is affected dramatically by bubble size, but the increase is more profound on the cold wall.     

Sliding and sticking vapour bubbles under inclined plane and curved surfaces

In flow boiling heat is transferred by the combined effects of nucleate boiling, with local generation of bubbles, and evaporative and convective cooling by the passage of bubbles generated elsewhere. In this study, nucleate boiling was eliminated by measuring the heat transfer near injected steam bubbles sliding under an inclined plate heated to low superheats, using liquid crystal thermography combined with high speed video recording and computerised image analysis. Heat was transferred by evaporation of the thin liquid film between the bubble and the wall and by enhanced convection in a wake region wider than the bubble and many bubble diameters long. Evaporation was the dominant mechanism for large, easily deformed, slow-moving bubbles. For small, faster-moving bubbles the reduction in evaporation was offset by an improvement in convection.     

Boiling heat transfer to liquid helium from multilayered porous structure fins

Heat transfer characteristics of a fin having a novel structure are studied. The fins, manufactured by diffusion welding, have a multilayered porous structure. The experimental results show significant enhancement of heat flux over the entire temperature range. Maximum heat flux is increased up to 10 times compared with that for smooth surfaces. The new structure is effective for high heat flux cooling using boiling heat transfer.