Flow Pattern Analysis and Heat Transfer Characteristics During Subcooled Flow Boiling in a Rectangular Microchannel on ZnO Microrod Surface

2021 ◽  
Vol 143 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuhao Lin ◽  
Junye Li ◽  
Jia Sun ◽  
Wei Li ◽  
Yanlong Cao

Abstract The combination of microstructured surface and microchannel flow boiling is expected to solve the thermal management problems of high-heat-flux devices. In this study, the experimental investigation of subcooled flow boiling in a high aspect ratio, one-sided heating rectangular microchannel was conducted with de-ionized water as the working fluid. ZnO microrods were synthesized on the titanium surface to be used as the heated surface compared with the bare titanium surface. A facile image tool is utilized to process the flow patterns photographed by a high-speed camera, which is analyzed with the heat transfer characteristics. The flow pattern of isolated bubbly flow reveals the large number of nucleation sites formed on the microrod surface but the heat transfer performance deteriorates with increasing mass flux because of the smaller bubble area and weaker nucleation. With increasing heat flux, the flow pattern changes from isolated bubbly flow to alternating bubbly/slug flow and alternating slug/annular flow. The latter flow pattern is confirmed to bring a higher heat transfer coefficient due to the larger area of thin-film evaporation. Compared with the bare surface, a higher heat transfer coefficient is achieved on the ZnO microrod surface for up to 37% due to the more nucleate sites and strengthened convective evaporation. Therefore, this surface might be suitable for heat dissipation in the watercraft or aerospace industry considering the low density, strong intensity, and corrosion resistance of titanium.

2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Li ◽  
Zengchao Chen ◽  
Junye Li ◽  
Kan Zhou ◽  
Zhaozan Feng

Abstract An experimental investigation of subcooled flow boiling in a high-aspect-ratio, one-sided heating, silicon-based rectangular microchannel was conducted utilizing de-ionized water as the working fluid. The microchannel was 5.01 mm wide and 0.52 mm high, having a hydraulic diameter of 0.94 mm and an aspect ratio (AR) of 10. The heat flux, mass flux, and inlet fluid subcooling were in the ranges of 0–30 W/cm2, 200–500 kg/m2 s, and 5–20 °C, respectively, while the orientations were vertical and horizontal. Parametric study on heat transfer characteristics including the onset of nucleate boiling (ONB), heat transfer coefficient (HTC), and critical heat flux (CHF) was carried out combined with flow visualization. Significant appearance of ONB without boiling hysteresis was observed in the boiling curve, accompanied with bubble nucleation. Nucleate boiling occurred first near the exit, where the HTC increased more sharply, while easier bubble nucleation was found near the sides. Unique time-dependent flow pattern consisting of isolated bubbly flow, elongated bubbly flow, partial dry-out, and rewetting process was observed. More nucleation sites were activated at higher heat flux, while higher initial heat flux and wall superheat for ONB as well as higher CHF value were obtained at higher mass flux and inlet subcooling. Compared to the vertical channel, higher wall temperature and pressure drop with larger oscillation amplitudes were found for the horizontal counterpart, where the merged bubbles agglomerated in the heating section, resulting in earlier dry-out which deteriorated heat transfer.


Author(s):  
Kan Zhou ◽  
Junye Li ◽  
Zhao-zan Feng ◽  
Wei Li ◽  
Hua Zhu ◽  
...  

For improving the functionality and signal speed of electronic devices, electronic components have been miniaturized and an increasing number of elements have been packaged in the device. As a result there has been a steady rise in the amount of heat necessitated to be dissipated from the electronic device. Recently microchannel heat sinks have been emerged as a kind of high performance cooling scheme to meet the heat dissipation requirement of electronics packaging, In the present study an experimental study of subcooled flow boiling in a high-aspect-ratio, one-sided heating rectangular microchannel with gap depth of 0.52 mm and width of 5 mm was conducted with deionized water as the working fluid. In the experimental operations, the mass flux was varied from 200 to 400 kg/m2s and imposed heat flux from 3 to 20 W/cm2 while the fluid inlet temperature was regulated constantly at 90 °C. The boiling curves, flow pattern and onset of nucleate boiling of subcooled flow boiling were investigated through instrumental measurements and a high speed camera. It was found that the slope of the boiling curves increased sharply once the superheat needed to initiate the onset of nucleate boiling was attained, and the slope was greater for lower mass fluxes, with lower superheat required for boiling incipience. As for the visualization images, for relatively lower mass fluxes the bubbles generated were larger and not easy to depart from the vertical upward placed narrow microchannel wall, giving elongated bubbly flow and reverse backflow. The thin film evaporation mechanism dominated the entire test section due to the elongated bubbles and transient local dryout as well as rewetting occurred. Meanwhile the initiative superheat and heat flux of onset of nucleate boiling were compared with existing correlations in the literature with good agreement.


Author(s):  
Hongsheng Yuan ◽  
Sichao Tan ◽  
Kun Cheng ◽  
Xiaoli Wu ◽  
Chao Guo ◽  
...  

The flow rate can fluctuate in offshore nuclear power systems which are exposed to wind and waves, as well as in loops where flow instabilities occur, resulting in different thermal-hydraulic characteristics compared with that under steady flow. Among the thermal-hydraulic characteristics, onset of nucleate boiling (ONB) model determines whether the fluid is boiling, and boiling heat transfer is crucial to equipment performance and safety, both being key issues in subcooled flow boiling. Therefore, an experimental study was conducted to investigate how an imposed periodic flow oscillation affects the boiling inception and heat transfer of subcooled flow boiling of water in a vertical tube. The experiments were conducted under atmospheric pressure with the average flow rate ranging from 96kg/m2s to 287kg/m2s and heat flux ranging from 10kW/m2 to 197kW/m2. The relative pulsatile amplitude range is 0.1–0.3 and pulsatile period range is 10s-30s. Photographic images and thermal parameters such as temperatures and flow rate were recorded. The lack of nucleation site on the heated surface of the test section results in high wall superheat at ONB. The effects of pulsatile amplitude and period on superheat at boiling onset and average heat transfer were analyzed. The results show that the superheat at boiling inception is decreased when the average heat flux is lower than the heat flux at boiling inception of the corresponding steady flow, and the superheat at boiling onset is increased when the average heat flux is higher than the heat flux at boiling onset of the corresponding steady flow. The above effect of flow rate pulsation on superheat increases with increasing amplitude and decreasing period, and the mechanism can be explained by boiling nucleation theory. The lack of large active nucleation site also affects the boiling heat transfer. By comparing the contribution of nucleate boiling to heat transfer with the widely used Cooper’s pool boiling correlation, the subcooled flow boiling was found suppressed by convection. The average heat transfer of both the intermittent flow boiling and the single phase flow is influenced by flow oscillation.


Author(s):  
Bao Truong ◽  
Lin-wen Hu ◽  
Jacopo Buongiorno ◽  
Thomas McKrell

Nanofluids are engineered colloidal dispersions of nano-sized particle in common base fluids. Previous pool boiling studies have shown that nanofluids can improve critical heat flux (CHF) up to 200% for pool boiling and up to 50% for subcooled flow boiling due to the boiling induced nanoparticle deposition on the heated surface. Motivated by the significant CHF enhancement of nanoparticle deposited surface, this study investigated experimentally the subcooled flow boiling heat transfer of pre-coated test sections in water. Using a separate coating loop, stainless steel test sections were treated via flow boiling of alumina nanofluids at constant heat flux and mass flow rate. The pre-coated test sections were then used in another loop to measure subcooled flow boiling heat transfer coefficient and CHF with water. The CHF values for the pre-coated tubing were found on average to be 28% higher than bare tubing at high mass flux G = 2500 kg/m2 s. However, no enhancement was found at lower mass flux G = 1500 kg/m2 s. The heat transfer coefficients did not differ much between experiments when the bare or coated tubes were used. SEM images of the test sections confirm the presence of a nanoparticle coating layer. The nanoparticle deposition is sporadic and no relationship between the coating pattern and the amount of CHF enhancement is observed.


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