Subcooled flow boiling of R-134a in vertical channels of small diameter

Subcooled flow boiling heat transfer for refrigerant R-134a in vertical cylindrical tubes with 0.83, 1.22 and 1.70 mm internal diameter was experimentally investigated. The effects of the heat flux, q″ = 1–26 kW/m², mass flux, G = 300–700 kg/m² s, inlet subcooling, ΔT_sub,i = 5–15 °C, system pressure, P = 7.70–10.17 bar, and channel diameter, D, on the subcooled boiling heat transfer were explored in detail. The results are presented in the form of boiling curves and heat transfer coefficients. The boiling curves evidenced the existence of hysteresis when increasing the heat flux until the onset of nucleate boiling, ONB. The wall superheat at ONB was found to be essentially higher than that predicted with correlations for larger tubes. An increase of the mass flux leads, for early subcooled boiling, to an increase in the heat transfer coefficient. However, for fully developed subcooled boiling, increases of the mass flux only result in a slight improvement of the heat transfer. Higher inlet subcooling, higher system pressure and smaller channel diameter lead to better boiling heat transfer. Experimental heat transfer coefficients are compared to predictions from classical correlations available in the literature. None of them predicts the experimental data for all tested conditions.     

Influence of the aspect ratio on boiling flows in rectangular mini-channels

This article presents experiments conducted with two single rectangular mini-channels of same hydraulic diameter (1.4 mm) and different aspect ratios for conditions of horizontal boiling flow. The Forane® 365 HX used was subcooled (ΔT_sub = 15 °C) for all the boiling curves presented in the paper. Local heat transfer coefficients were measured for heat flux ranging from 25 to 62 kW m⁻² and mass flux from 200 kg m⁻² s⁻¹ to 400 kg m⁻² s⁻¹. The boiling flows were observed with two different cameras (depending on the flow velocity) through a visualization window. The flow patterns in the two channels were compared for similar conditions. The results show that the boiling heat transfer coefficient and the pressure drop values are different for the two single mini-channels. For low heat flux condition, the channel with lowest aspect ratio (H/W = 0.143) has a higher heat transfer coefficient. On the other hand, for high heat flux condition, the opposite situation occurs, namely the heat transfer coefficient becomes higher for the channel with highest aspect ratio (H/W = 0.43). This is probably due to the earlier onset of dryout in the channel with lowest aspect ratio. For the two cases of heating, the pressure drop for the two-phase flow remains lower for the channel with lowest aspect ratio. These results show that the aspect ratio plays a substantial role for boiling flows in rectangular channels. As for single-phase flows, the heat transfer characteristics are significantly influenced (even though the hydraulic diameter remains the same) by this parameter.     

Carbon dioxide flow boiling in a single microchannel - Part II: Heat transfer

Flow boiling heat transfer coefficients of CO₂ have been measured in a single microchannel. Experiments were carried out in a horizontal stainless steel tube of 0.529 mm inner diameter, for three temperatures (−10, −5 and 0 °C), with the mass flux ranging from 200 to 1200 kg/m² s and the heat flux varying from 10 to 30 kW/m². The investigation covered qualities from zero to the dryout inception, i.e. pre-dryout conditions. Compared to larger microchannels and positive temperatures, a higher contribution of convective boiling was found, with a larger heat transfer coefficient than for pure nucleate boiling. Mainly two heat transfer regimes were found, depending on the boiling number (Bo). For Bo > 1.1 × 10⁻⁴, the heat transfer coefficient was highly dependent on the heat flux and moderately influenced by the quality and the mass flux. For Bo < 1.1 × 10⁻⁴, the heat transfer coefficient was hardly affected by the heat flux but strongly influenced by the quality and the mass flux. In addition, dryout results were reported. The effect of the mass flux on the dryout inception quality was found to be highly dependent on the heat flux and the saturation temperature.     

Nucleate boiling and critical heat flux of HFE-7100 in horizontal narrow spaces

The pool boiling heat transfer and critical heat flux CHF of saturated HFE-7100 at atmospheric pressure on a confined smooth copper surface were experimentally studied. The horizontal upward boiling surface was confined by a face-to-face parallel unheated surface. We analysed the effects obtained by changing the diameter of the unheated surface and the gap between the boiling surface and the adiabatic surface. The gap values investigated were s = 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.5 mm. To confine the circular boiling surface (d = 30 mm), two different Plexiglas discs were used: one with a diameter D = 30 mm, equal to that of the copper boiling surface, and the other with a diameter D = 60 mm, equal to that of the overall test section support. For each configuration, boiling curves were obtained up to the thermal crisis. For both configurations, it was observed that, at low wall superheat, the effect of confinement was not significant if Bo > 1, while for Bo ? 1 the heat transfer coefficient increased as the channel width s decreased. By contrast, at high wall superheat, a drastic reduction in both heat transfer and CHF was seen when the channel width s decreased; this reduction was less pronounced when the smaller confinement disc (D = 30 mm) was used. CHF data were also compared with the values predicted by literature correlations.     

Macro-to-microchannel transition in two-phase flow: Part 1 - Two-phase flow patterns and film thickness measurements

The classification of macroscale, mesoscale and microscale channels with respect to two-phase processes is still an open question. The main objective of this study focuses on investigating the macro-to-microscale transition during flow boiling in small scale channels of three different sizes with three different refrigerants over a range of saturation conditions to investigate the effects of channel confinement on two-phase flow patterns and liquid film stratification in a single circular horizontal channel (Part 2 covers the flow boiling heat transfer and critical heat flux). This paper presents the experimental two-phase flow pattern transition data together with a top/bottom liquid film thickness comparison for refrigerants R134a, R236fa and R245fa during flow boiling in small channels of 1.03, 2.20 and 3.04 mm diameter. Based on this work, an improved flow pattern map has been proposed by determining the flow patterns transitions existing under different conditions including the transition to macroscale slug/plug flow at a confinement number of Co ≈ 0.3-0.4. From the top/bottom liquid film thickness comparison results, it was observed that the gravity forces are fully suppressed and overcome by the surface tension and shear forces when the confinement number approaches 1, Co ≈ 1. Thus, as a new approximate rule, the lower threshold of macroscale flow is Co = 0.3-0.4 while the upper threshold of symmetric microscale flow is Co ≈ 1 with a transition (or mesoscale) region in-between.     

Effect of surfactant concentration on saturated flow boiling in vertical narrow annular channels

Saturated flow boiling of environmentally acceptable nonionic surfactant solutions of Alkyl (8–16) was compared to that of pure water. The concentration of surfactant solutions was in the range of 100–1000 ppm. The liquid flowed in an annular gap of 2.5 and 4.4 mm between two vertical tubes. The heat was transferred from the inner heated tube to two-phase flow in the range of mass flux from 5 to 18 kg/m² s and heat flux from 40 to 200 kW/m². Boiling curves of water were found to be heat flux and channel gap size dependent but essentially mass flux independent. An addition of surfactant to the water produced a large number of bubbles of small diameter, which, at high heat fluxes, tend to cover the entire heater surface with a vapor blanket. It was found that the heat transfer increased at low values of relative surfactant concentration C/C₀, reaches a maximum close to the value of C/C₀ = 1 (where C₀ = 300 ppm is the critical micelle concentration) and decreased with further increase in the amount of additive. The dependence of the maximal values of the relative heat transfer enhancement, obtained at the value of relative concentration of C/C₀ = 1, on the boiling number Bo may be presented as single curve for both gap sizes and the whole range of considered concentrations.     

Macro-to-microchannel transition in two-phase flow: Part 2 - Flow boiling heat transfer and critical heat flux

This part of the paper presents the current experimental flow boiling heat transfer and CHF data acquired for R134a, R236fa and R245fa in single, horizontal channels of 1.03, 2.20 and 3.04 mm diameters over a range of experimental conditions. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of channel confinement, heat flux, flow pattern, saturation temperature, subcooling and working fluid properties on the two-phase heat transfer and CHF. Experimentally, it was observed that the flow boiling heat transfer coefficients are a significant function of the type of two-phase flow pattern. Furthermore, the monotonically increasing heat transfer coefficients at higher vapor qualities, corresponding to annular flow, signifies convective boiling as the dominant heat transfer mechanism in these small scale channels. The decreasing heat transfer trend at low vapor qualities in the slug flow (coalescing bubble dominated regime) was indicative of thin film evaporation with intermittent dry patch formation and rewetting at these conditions. The coalescing bubble flow heat transfer data were well predicted by the three-zone model when setting the dryout thickness to the measured surface roughness, indicating for the first time a roughness effect on the flow boiling heat transfer coefficient in this regime. The CHF data acquired during the experimental campaign indicated the influence of saturation temperature, mass velocity, channel confinement and fluid properties on CHF but no influence of inlet subcooling for the conditions tested. When globally comparing the CHF values for R134a in the 0.51-3.04 mm diameter channels, a peak in CHF peak was observed lying in between the 0.79 (Co ≈ 0.99) and 1.03 (Co ≈ 0.78) mm channels. A new CHF correlation has been proposed involving the confinement number, Co that is able to predict CHF for R134a, R236fa and R245fa in single-circular channels, rectangular multichannels and split flow rectangular multichannels. In summary, the present flow boiling and CHF trends point to a macro-to-microscale transition as indicated by the results presented in Ong and Thome (2011) [1].     

Experimental investigation of flow boiling characteristics in a cross-linked microchannel heat sink

This paper experimentally investigates flow boiling characteristics in a cross-linked microchannel heat sink at low mass fluxes and high heat fluxes. The heat sink consists of 45 straight microchannels each with a hydraulic diameter of 248 μm and heated length of 16 mm. Three cross-links, of width 500 μm, are introduced in the present microchannel heat sink to achieve better temperature uniformity and to avoid flow mal-distribution. Flow visualization, flow instability, two-phase pressure drop, and two-phase heat transfer measurements are conducted using the dielectric coolant FC-72 over a range of heat flux from 7.2 to 104.2 kW/m², mass flux from 99 to 290 kg/m² s, and exit quality from 0.01 to 0.71. Thermochromic liquid crystals are used in the present study as full-field surface temperature sensors to map the temperature distribution on the heat sink surface. Flow visualization studies indicate that the observed flow regime is primarily slug. Visual observations of flow patterns in the cross-links demonstrate that bubbles nucleate and grow rapidly on the surface of the cross-links and in the tangential direction at the microchannels’ entrance due to the effect of circulations generated in those regions. The two-phase pressure drop strongly increases with the exit quality, at x_e,o < 0.3, and the two-phase frictional pressure drop increases by a factor of 1.6–2 compared to the straight microchannel heat sink. The flow boiling heat transfer coefficient increases with increasing exit quality at a constant mass flux, which is caused by the dominance of the nucleation boiling mechanism in the cross-link region.     

Effects of channel dimension,heat flux,and mass flux on flow boiling regimes in microchannels

Experiments are conducted with a perfluorinated dielectric fluid, Fluorinert FC-77, to investigate the effects of channel size and mass flux (225–1420 kg/m²s) on microchannel flow boiling regimes by means of high-speed photography. Seven different silicon test pieces with parallel microchannels of widths ranging from 100 to 5850 μm, all with a depth of 400 μm, are considered. Flow visualizations are performed with a high-speed digital video camera while local measurements of the heat transfer coefficient are simultaneously obtained. The visualizations and the heat transfer data show that flow regimes in the microchannels of width 400 μm and larger are similar, with nucleate boiling being dominant in these channels over a wide range of heat flux. In contrast, flow regimes in the smaller microchannels are different and bubble nucleation at the walls is suppressed at a relatively low heat flux for these sizes. Two types of flow regime maps are developed and the effects of channel width on the flow regime transitions are discussed.     

Experimental investigation in pool boiling heat transfer of ammonia/water mixture and heat transfer correlations

The nucleate pool boiling heat transfer coefficient of ammonia/water mixture was investigated on a cylindrical heated surface at low pressure of 4-8 bar and at low mass fraction of 0 < x_NH3 < 0.3 and at different heat flux. The effect of mass fraction, heat flux and pressure on boiling heat transfer coefficient was studied. The results indicate that the heat transfer coefficient in the mixture decreases with increase in ammonia mass fraction, increases with increase in heat flux and pressure in the investigated range. The measured heat transfer coefficient was compared with existing correlations. The experimental data were predicted with an accuracy of ±20% by the correlation of Calus&Rice, correlation of Stephan-Koorner and Inoue-Monde correlation for ammonia/water mixture in the investigated range of low ammonia mass fraction. The empirical constant of the first two correlations is modified by fitting the correlation to the present experimental data. The modified Calus&Rice correlation predicts the present experimental data with an accuracy of ±18% and the modified Stephan-Koorner correlation with an accuracy of ±16%.     

Natural convection boiling of water and surfactant solutions having negligible environmental impact in vertical confined space

Natural convection boiling of water and surfactant solutions in a confined space between two vertical plates was studied experimentally in the range of heat flux 19–170 kW/m². The surfactant used was Alkyl (8–16) Glucoside having negligible environmental impact. The gap size was changed in the range of s = 1–80 mm, the concentration of surfactant solutions was changed in the range of C = 200–600 ppm. Generally, an addition of surfactant leads to an enhancement of heat transfer compared to water boiling at the same gap size. Enhancement of the heat transfer depending on the solution concentration at fixed gap size yields maximum value at the solution concentration close to the critical micelle concentration. The effect of confined space on a bubble dynamic was studied. Temperature field on the heater was determined using the infrared thermography technique. Quasi periodic wall temperature fluctuations were observed in the regime of high heat flux. An increase in the Bond number leads to an increase in the dimensionless frequency of the heated wall temperature fluctuations. The correlation between the dimensionless parameter of heat transfer and the Bond number under condition of quasi periodic boiling was derived and discussed.     

Effects of heat flux,mass flux,vapor quality,and saturation temperature on flow boiling heat transfer in microchannels

Flow boiling heat transfer with the refrigerants R-134a and R-245fa in copper microchannel cold plate evaporators is investigated. Arrays of microchannels of hydraulic diameter 1.09 and 0.54 mm are considered. The aspect ratio of the rectangular cross section of the channels in both test sections is 2.5. The heat transfer coefficient is measured as a function of local thermodynamic vapor quality in the range −0.2 to 0.9, at saturation temperatures ranging from 8 to 30 °C, mass flux from 20 to 350 kg m⁻² s⁻¹, and heat flux from 0 to 22 W cm⁻². The heat transfer coefficient is found to vary significantly with heat flux and vapor quality, but only slightly with saturation pressure and mass flux for the range of values investigated. It was found that nucleate boiling dominates the heat transfer. In addition to discussing measurement results, several flow boiling heat transfer correlations are also assessed for applicability to the present experiments.     

Measurements and high-speed visualizations of flow boiling of a dielectric fluid in a silicon microchannel heat sink

Experiments were conducted to investigate flow boiling heat transfer to a dielectric fluid in a silicon chip-integrated microchannel heat sink. Twenty-four microchannels, each 389 μm × 389 μm in cross-section, were fabricated into the 12.7 mm × 12.7 mm silicon substrate. High-speed visualizations (at 12,500 frames per second) were performed simultaneously with heat transfer and pressure drop measurements to investigate the physics of flow boiling in parallel microchannel arrays. At low heat fluxes, bubbly flow is dominant, with the bubbles coalescing to form vapor slugs as the heat flux is increased. At high heat fluxes, the flow regimes in the downstream portion of the microchannels are characteristic of alternating wispy-annular flow and churn flow, while flow reversal is observed in the upstream region near the microchannel inlet. Local heat transfer measurements, obtained at three flow rates ranging from 35 to 60 ml/min, show that at lower heat fluxes, the heat transfer coefficient increases with increasing heat flux. The heat transfer coefficient in fully developed boiling is seen to be independent of flow rate in this range. At higher heat fluxes (exceeding 542, 673, 730 kW/m², respectively, for flow rates of 35, 47 and 60 ml/min), this trend is reversed, and the heat transfer coefficient decreases with further increases in heat flux due to partial dryout in some of the microchannels. Heat fluxes at which fully developed boiling is achieved depend on the flow rate. The pressure drop in fully developed boiling increases with increasing heat flux and is independent of flow rate for the test conditions considered in this work.     

Natural convection boiling of water and surfactants in narrow horizontal annular channels

Natural convection boiling of water and surfactants at atmospheric pressure in narrow horizontal annular channels was studied experimentally in the range of Bond numbers Bo = 0.185–1.52. The flow pattern was visualized by high-speed video recording to identify the different regimes of boiling of water and surfactants. The channel length was 24 mm and 36 mm, the gap size was 0.45, 1.2, 2.2, and 3.7 mm. The heat flux was in the range of 20–500 kW/m², the concentration of surfactant solutions was varied from 10 to 600 ppm. For water boiling at Bond numbers Bo < 1 the CHF in restricted space is lower than that in unconfined space. This effect increases with increasing the channel length. For water at Bond number Bo = 1.52, boiling can almost be considered as unconfined. Additive of surfactant led to enhancement of heat transfer compared to water boiling in the same gap size, however, this effect decreased with decreasing gap size. For the same gap size, CHF in surfactant solutions was significantly lower than that in water. Hysteresis was observed for boiling in degraded surfactant solutions.     

On the quenching of steel and zircaloy spheres in water-based nanofluids with alumina,silica and diamond nanoparticles

The quenching curves (temperature vs time) for small (∼1 cm) metallic spheres exposed to pure water and water-based nanofluids with alumina, silica and diamond nanoparticles at low concentrations (?0.1 vol%) were acquired experimentally. Both saturated (ΔT_sub = 0 °C) and highly subcooled (ΔT_sub = 70 °C) conditions were explored. The spheres were made of stainless steel and zircaloy, and were quenched from an initial temperature of ∼1000 °C. The results show that the quenching behavior in nanofluids is nearly identical to that in pure water. However, it was found that some nanoparticles accumulate on the sphere surface, which results in destabilization of the vapor film in subsequent tests with the same sphere, thus greatly accelerating the quenching process. The entire boiling curves were obtained from the quenching curves using the inverse heat transfer method, and revealed that alumina and silica nanoparticle deposition on the surface increases the critical heat flux and minimum heat flux temperature, while diamond nanoparticle deposition has a minimal effect on the boiling curve. The possible mechanisms by which the nanoparticles affect the quenching process were analyzed. It appears that surface roughness increase and wettability enhancement due to nanoparticle deposition may be responsible for the premature disruption of film boiling and the acceleration of quenching. The basic results were also confirmed by quench tests with rodlets.     

Experimental study of inverted annular film boiling in a vertical tube cooled by R-134a

An experimental investigation of inverted annular film boiling heat transfer has been performed for vertical up-flow in a round tube. The experiments used R-134a coolant and covered a pressure range of 640–2390 kPa (water equivalent range: 4000–14,000 kPa) and a mass flux range of 500–4000 kg m⁻² s⁻¹ (water equivalent range: 700–5700 kg m⁻² s⁻¹). The inlet qualities of the tests ranged from −0.75 to −0.03. The hot-patch technique was used to obtain the subcooled film boiling measurements. It was found that the heat transfer vs. quality curve can be divided into four different regions, each characterized by a different mechanisms and trends. These regions are dependent on pressure, mass flux and local quality. A detailed examination of the parametric trends of the heat transfer coefficient with respect to mass flux, inlet quality, heat flux and pressure was performed; reasonably good agreement between observed trends and those reported in the literature were noted.     

Flow boiling heat transfer and pressure drop of R-134a in a mini tube: an experimental investigation

This paper presents the results of an experimental study carried out with R-134a during flow boiling in a horizontal tube of 2.6 mm ID. The experimental tests included (i) heat fluxes in the range from 10 to 100 kW/m², (ii) the refrigerant mass velocities set to the discrete values in the range of 240-930 kg/(m² s) and (iii) saturation temperature of 12 and 22 °C. The study analyzed the heat transfer, through the local heat transfer coefficient along of flow, and pressure drop, under the variation of these different parameters. It was possible to observe the significant influence of heat flux in the heat transfer coefficient and mass velocity in the pressure drop, besides the effects of saturation temperature. In the low quality region, it was possible to observe a significant influence of heat flux on the heat transfer coefficient. In the high vapor quality region, for high mass velocities, this influence tended to vanish, and the coefficient decreased. The influence of mass velocity in the heat transfer coefficient was detected in most tests for a threshold value of vapor quality, which was higher as the heat flux increased. For higher heat flux the heat transfer coefficient was nearly independent of mass velocity. The frictional pressure drop increased with the increase in vapor quality and mass velocity. Predictive models for heat transfer coefficient in mini channels were evaluated and the calculated coefficient agreed well with measured data within a range 35% for saturation temperature of 22 °C. These results extend the ranges of heat fluxes and mass velocities beyond values available in literature, and add a substantial contribution to the comprehension of boiling heat transfer phenomena inside mini channels.     

Effect of surfactant additives on nucleate pool boiling heat transfer of refrigerant-based nanofluid

Effect of surfactant additives on nucleate pool boiling heat transfer of refrigerant-based nanofluid was investigated experimentally. Three types of surfactants including Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate (SDS), Cetyltrimethyl Ammonium Bromide (CTAB) and Sorbitan Monooleate (Span-80) were used in the experiments. The refrigerant-based nanofluid was formed from Cu nanoparticles and refrigerant R113. The test surface is horizontal with the average roughness of 1.6 μm. Test conditions include a saturation pressure of 101.3 kPa, heat fluxes from 10 to 80 kW m⁻², surfactant concentrations from 0 to 5000 ppm (parts per million by weight), and nanoparticle concentrations from 0 to 1.0 wt.%. The experimental results indicate that the presence of surfactant enhances the nucleate pool boiling heat transfer of refrigerant-based nanofluid on most conditions, but deteriorates the nucleate pool boiling heat transfer at high surfactant concentrations. The ratio of nucleate pool boiling heat transfer coefficient of refrigerant-based nanofluid with surfactant to that without surfactant (defined as surfactant enhancement ratio, SER) are in the ranges of 1.12-1.67, 0.94-1.39, and 0.85-1.29 for SDS, CTAB and Span-80, respectively, and the values of SER are in the order of SDS > CTAB > Span-80, which is opposite to the order of surfactant density values. The SER increases with the increase of surfactant concentration and then decreases, presenting the maximum values at 2000, 500 and 1000 ppm for SDS, CTAB and Span-80, respectively. At a fixed surfactant concentration, the SER increases with the decrease of nanoparticle concentration. A nucleate pool boiling heat transfer correlation for refrigerant-based nanofluid with surfactant is proposed, and it agrees with 92% of the experimental data within a deviation of ±25%.     

Experimental investigation of heat transfer in vertical upward and downward supercritical CO2 flow in a circular tube

An experimental investigation of turbulent heat transfer in vertical upward and downward supercritical CO₂ flow was conducted in a circular tube with an inner diameter of 4.5 mm. The experiments were performed for bulk fluid temperatures from 29 to 115 °C, pressures from 74.6 to 102.6 bar, local wall heat fluxes from 38 to 234 kW/m², and mass fluxes from 208 to 874 kg/m² s. At a moderate wall heat flux and low mass flux, the wall temperature had a noticeable peak value for vertical upward flow, but increased monotonically along the flow direction without a peak value for downward flow. The ratios of the experimental Nusselt number to the value obtained from a reference correlation were compared with Bo^* and q⁺ distributions to observe the buoyancy and flow-acceleration effects on heat transfer. In the experimental range of this study, the flow acceleration predominantly affected the heat-transfer phenomena. Based on an analysis of the shear-stress distribution in the turbulent boundary layer and the significant variation of the specific heat across the turbulent boundary layer, a new heat-transfer correlation for vertical upward and downward flow of supercritical pressurized fluid was developed; this correlation agreed with various experimental datasets within ±30%.