A Study of Surface Boiling Intensification: A New Method for Heat Transfer Enhancement

Abstract

A simple and technologically feasible method for liquid boiling heat transfer enhancement has experimentally been studied. Central to the proposed method is setting up conditions under which the working fluid boiling temperature is reached at a lower temperature to which a copper heat transfer surface is heated. The experiments were carried out under the liquid bulk boiling conditions at atmospheric pressure on a flat copper surface, above which round brass plates were placed at an adjusted height. The maximum heat flux value made 500 kW/m². Various plate location options were considered to determine the optimal conditions under which the maximal heat transfer coefficient is reached. Boiling curves for all of the studied options were obtained, heat transfer coefficients were calculated, and their comparative analysis was carried out. It has been found that the brass plate optimal placement height and diameter have an essential influence on the process performance. According to the experiment results, the option involving the use of several plates turned to be the most optimal one: the heat transfer coefficient increased by up to 80% in comparison with that for the copper surface. It is pointed out that the proposed method does not imply the need for complex treatment of the surface, features high manufacturability, and was not previously described in accessible literature sources, circumstances that point to its scientific novelty and practical significance.