Peak and recovery heat flux densities in bath of subcooled superfluid helium

This paper describes the measurement of the peak and recovery heat flux densities (q_P, q_R) in a bath of subcooled superfluid helium. A RhFe wire (d = 51 μm, L = 34.8 mm) was horizontally immersed in a He Ilp cryostat, which served as the sample, the heater and the temperature sensor. For the steady state measurement a programmed voltage method with a triangular waveform of 20 s was applied. The measured q_P and q_R values cover the temperature range 1.81–2.1K at a pressure of 0.1 MPa. On the basis of the heat and mass transfer through phase interfaces, theoretical relations (without geometrical parameters) of q_P and q_R are derived, which have very wide application range due to the relative critical heat flux density method used for the calculations. The theoretical results fit the experimental results well for both q_P and q_R.