Pool boiling enhancement through bubble induced convective liquid flow in feeder microchannels

Bubbles departing from the nucleation sites induce a liquid flow from the bulk to the heated surface during pool boiling. Alternating the nucleating regions with non-nucleating regions facilitates separate liquid-vapor pathways for departing vapor bubbles and returning liquid. We explored an additional enhancement through liquid feeder channels on the heater surface directing the returning liquid towards the nucleating region. The nucleating bubbles were confined to the nucleating region as the returning liquid flow induced strong convective currents over the non-nucleating regions. In the best performing configuration, the nucleating regions were 0.5 mm wide, separated by non-nucleating regions of width 2.125 mm, which corresponded to the bubble departure diameter. The non-nucleating regions contained 0.5 mm wide feeder channels directing liquid towards the nucleating region. High speed images indicated distinct vapor columns over the nucleating regions with liquid channeled through the feeder channels. At higher heat fluxes, the strong liquid currents established over the feeder channels suppressed any undesirable nucleation in them keeping the separated vapor-liquid pathways functional. This enhancement technique resulted in a critical heat flux of 394 W/cm(2) at a wall superheat of 5.5 degrees C which translated to a heat transfer coefficient of 713 kW/m(2)degrees C. The additional surface area and high heat transfer coefficient due to microchannel flow in feeder channels, and the unobstructed surface available for the bubbles to expand over the prime heat transfer surface area before departing were seen to be responsible for their superior performance. (C) 2016 AIP Publishing LLC.