A heat transfer textbook

Boiling is a common mechanism for liquid-vapor phase transition and is widely exploited in power generation and refrigeration devices and systems. The efficacy of boiling heat transfer is characterized by two parameters: (a) heat transfer coefficient (HTC) or the thermal conductance; (b) the critical heat flux (CHF) limit that demarcates the transition from high HTC to very low HTC. While increasing the CHF and the HTC has significant impact on system-level energy efficiency, safety, and cost, their values for water and other heat transfer fluids have essentially remained unchanged for many decades. Here we report that the high surface tension forces offered by liquids in nanowire arrays made of Si and Cu can be exploited to increase both the CHF and the HTC by more than 100%.

Nanowires for enhanced boiling heat transfer.

▪ Abstract This review examines recent advances made in predicting boiling heat fluxes, including some key results from the past. The topics covered are nucleate boiling, maximum heat flux, transition boiling, and film boiling. The review focuses on pool boiling of pure liquids, but flow boiling is also discussed briefly.

Boiling heat transfer

Bubble nucleation from gas cavities — a review

This paper is concerned about pool boiling heat transfer using nanofluids, a subject of several investigations over the past few years. The work is motivated by the controversial results reported in the literature and the potential impact of nanofluids on heat transfer intensification. Systematic experiments are carried out to formulate stable aqueous based nanofluids containing γ-alumina nanoparticles (primary particle size 10–50 nm), and to investigate their heat transfer behaviour under nucleate pool boiling conditions. The results show that alumina nanofluids can significantly enhance boiling heat transfer. The enhancement increases with increasing particle concentration and reaches ∼ ∼40% at a particle loading of 1.25% by weight. Discussion of the results suggests that the reported controversies in the thermal performance of nanofluids under the nucleate pool boiling conditions be associated with the properties and behaviour of the nanofluids and boiling surface, as well as their interactions.

Experimental investigation into the pool boiling heat transfer of aqueous based γ-alumina nanofluids

The importance of surfare condition on nucleate boiling has long been recognized. It has also been known that only cavities of a narrow size range can be active nucleation sites. In order to define the size range of active cavities as a function of wall temperature or heat flux, a model is proposed. The model pictures a bubble nucleus at a site enveloped by a warm liquid. The nucleus will begin to grow into a bubble only when the surrounding liquid is sufficiently superheated. The time required for the liquid to attain this superheat is called the waiting period. The transfer of heat from the superheated liquid into the bubble is considered to be a transient conduction process. A cavity is considered effective only if the waiting period is finite. This criterion gives the limiting sizes of effective cavities. The equations show that maximum and minimum sizes of effective cavities are functions of subcooling, pressure of the system, physical properties, and the thickness of the superheated liquid layer. Comparison of theoretical prediction with experimental data from several sources was made. The fluids considered were ether, pentane, and water, with water under various degrees of subcooling. The theory did predict the incipience of boiling and size range of cavities successfully.

Y. Y. Hsu

Papers

On the Size Range of Active Nucleation Cavities on a Heating Surface