Pool boiling heat transfer of deionized and degassed water in packed-perforated copper beads

Abstract

Nucleate pool boiling with porous media made of perforated copper beads as the enhanced structure is conducted in saturated, deionized and degassed water. Data are taken at an atmospheric pressure (saturation temperature of 100 °C) and at heat fluxes from 4500 to 72,300 W/m2 while increasing the heat flux. The bead-packed structure is heated on the bottom. The layer of loose particles on the heated surface is free to move under the action of bulk liquid convection and vapor nucleation. The effects of the weight (number), size and layers of the free particles are experimentally explored using copper particles for different copper bead diameters which were 2, 3, 4 and 5 mm. The boiling enhancement is closely related to the particle weight, size and layers, and the heat flux applied. The results show that free particles are presented to have a distinct advantage in boiling heat transfer, resulting in an average increase in the heat transfer coefficient of 126 % relative to the flat plate without particles. In order to obtain insight into the fluid boiling phenomena, flow visualization is also made to observe the detailed fluid boiling characteristics of the copper particles present. The visualizations show that bubble nucleation preferentially occurs at the narrow corner cavities formed between the free particles and the heated surface.