Interplay between developing flow length and bubble departure diameter during macroconvection enhanced pool boiling

Abstract

Enhanced boiling structures based on the concept of separate liquid-vapor (L-V) pathways rely on the motion of the bubbles departing from the nucleating regions (NRs) to induce a macroconvective liquid jet impingement flow over adjacent non-boiling regions. Heat transfer in the non-boiling regions can be improved by incorporating microchannels which act as feeder channels (FCs) that also improve liquid directionality towards the NR. We hypothesize that the single-phase flow characteristics in the developing region of the FC contribute to the boiling enhancement and explore the interplay between the FC length, developing flow length, and departure bubble diameter. FC lengths shorter than the developing flow length benefit from the enhancement due to developing boundary layers over their entire length. However, FC lengths shorter than the departure bubble diameter suffer from bubble interference while FC lengths that are considerably longer than the developing flow length exhibit lower heat transfer rates in the fully developed region. This hypothesis was verified by conducting pool boiling experiments with four feeder channel lengths between 1 mm and 3 mm using HFE-7000, PP1, PP1C, and water. Three distinct regions: (i) interfering bubble, (ii) efficient L-V pathways, and (iii) diminished jet were identified to explain the boiling performance enhancement. This analysis will be beneficial in the pursuit to enhance critical heat flux (CHF) and heat transfer coefficient (HTC) on surfaces utilizing macroconvection mechanisms during boiling with different liquids.