Detailed studies have suggested that the critical heat flux in the form of dryout in minichannels occurs when the combined effects of entrainment, deposition, and evaporation of the film make the film flow rate go gradually and smoothly to zero. Most approaches so far used the mass balance equation for the liquid film with appropriate formulations for the rate of deposition and entrainment respectively. It must be acknowledged that any discrepancy in determination of deposition and entrainment rates, together with cross-correlations between them, leads to the loss of accuracy of model predictions. Conservation equations relating the primary parameters are established for the liquid film and vapor core. The model consists of three mass balance equations, for liquid in the film as well as two-phase core and the gas phase itself. These equations are supplemented by the corresponding momentum equations for liquid in the film and the two-phase core. Applicability of the model has been tested on some experimental data.

Experimental investigation of heat transfer during pool boiling of two nanofluids, i.e. water-Al2O3 and water-Cu has been carried out. Nanoparticles were tested at the concentration of 0.01%, 0.1%, and 1% by weight. The horizontal smooth stainless steel tubes having 10 mm OD and 0.6 mm wall thickness formed the test heater. The experiments have been performed to establish the influence of nanofluids concentration on heat transfer characteristics during boiling at different absolute operating pressure values, i.e. 200 kPa, ca. 100 kPa (atmospheric pressure) and 10 kPa. It was established that independent of nanoparticle materials (Al2O3 and Cu) and their concentration, an increase of operating pressure enhances heat transfer. Generally, independent of operating pressure, sub- and atmospheric pressure, and overpressure, an increase of nanoparticle concentration caused heat transfer augmentation.

In the paper the experimental analysis of dryout in small diameter channels is presented. The investigations were carried out in vertical pipes of internal diameter equal to 1.15 mm and 2.3 mm. Low-boiling point fluids such as SES36 and R123 were examined. The modern experimental techniques were applied to record liquid film dryout on the wall, among the others the infrared camera. On the basis of experimental data an empirical correlation for predictions of critical heat flux was proposed. It shows a good agreement with experimental data within the error band of 30%. Additionally, a unique approach to liquid film dryout modeling in annular flow was presented. It led to the development of the three-equation model based on consideration of liquid mass balance in the film, a two-phase mixture in the core and gas. The results of experimental validation of the model exhibit improvement in comparison to other models from literature.

The paper deals with pool boiling of water-Al2O3and water-Cu nanofluids on rough and porous coated horizontal tubes. Commercially available stainless steel tubes having 10 mm outside diameter and 0.6 mm wall thickness were used to fabricate the test heater. The tube surface was roughed with emery paper 360 or polished with abrasive compound. Aluminium porous coatings of 0.15 mm thick with porosity of about 40% were produced by plasma spraying. The experiments were conducted under different absolute operating pressures, i.e., 200, 100, and 10 kPa. Nanoparticles were tested at the concentration of 0.01, 0.1, and 1% by weight. Ultrasonic vibration was used in order to stabilize the dispersion of the nanoparticles. It was observed that independent of operating pressure and roughness of the stainless steel tubes addition of even small amount of nanoparticles augments heat transfer in comparison to boiling of distilled water. Contrary to rough tubes boiling heat transfer coefficient of tested nanofluids on porous coated tubes was lower compared to that for distilled water while boiling on porous coated tubes. A correlation equation for prediction of the average heat transfer coefficient during boiling of nanofluids on smooth, rough and porous coated tubes is proposed. The correlation includes all tested variables in dimensionless form and is valid for low heat flux, i.e., below 100 kW/m2.

In the paper a method developed earlier by authors is applied to calculations of pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient for flow boiling and also flow condensation for some recent data collected from literature for such fluids as R404a, R600a, R290, R32,R134a, R1234yf and other. The modification of interface shear stresses between flow boiling and flow condensation in annular flow structure are considered through incorporation of the so called blowing parameter. The shear stress between vapor phase and liquid phase is generally a function of nonisothermal effects. The mechanism of modification of shear stresses at the vapor-liquid interface has been presented in detail. In case of annular flow it contributes to thickening and thinning of the liquid film, which corresponds to condensation and boiling respectively. There is also a different influence of heat flux on the modification of shear stress in the bubbly flow structure, where it affects bubble nucleation. In that case the effect of applied heat flux is considered. As a result a modified form of the two-phase flow multiplier is obtained, in which the nonadiabatic effect is clearly pronounced.

Technology advancements entail a necessity to remove huge amounts of heat produced by today’s electronic devices based on highly integrated circuits, major generators of heat. Heat transfer to boiling liquid flowing through narrow minichannels is a modern solution to the problem of heat transfer enhancement. The study was conducted for FC-72 boiling in a rectangular, vertical and asymmetrically heated minichannel that had depths of 0.5-1.5 mm, a width of 20 mm and a length of 360 mm. The heat flux increased and decreased within the range of 58.3-132.0 kWm−2, the absolute pressure ranged from 0.116 to 0.184 MPa and the mass flux was 185-1139.2 kgm−2s−1. The boiling process took place on a flat vertical heating surface made of Haynes-230 0.1 mm thick acid-proof rolled plate with the surface roughness of 121 μm.

In the paper presented are the results of calculations using authors own model to predict heat transfer coefficient during flow boiling of carbon dioxide. The experimental data from various researches were collected. Calculations were conducted for a full range of quality variation and a wide range of mass velocity. The aim of the study was to test the sensitivity of the in-house model. The results show the importance of taking into account the surface tension as the parameter exhibiting its importance in case of the flow in minichannels as well as the influence of reduced pressure. The calculations were accomplished to test the sensitivity of the heat transfer model with respect to selection of the appropriate two-phase flow multiplier, which is one of the elements of the heat transfer model. For that purpose correlations due to Müller-Steinhagen and Heck as well as the one due to Friedel were considered. Obtained results show a good consistency with experimental results, however the selection of two-phase flow multiplier does not significantly influence the consistency of calculations.

Miniature heat exchangers are used to provide higher cooling capacity for new technologies. This means a reduction in their size and cost but the identical power. The paper presents the method for determination of boiling heat transfer coefficient for a rectangular minichannel of 0.1 mm depth, 40 mm width and 360 mm length with asymmetric heating. Experimental research has focused on the transition from single phase forced convection to nucleate boiling, i.e., the zone of boiling incipience. The ‘boiling front’ location has been determined from the temperature distribution of the heated wall obtained from liquid crystal thermography. The experiment has been carried out with R-123, mass flux 220 kg/(m2s), pressure at the channel inlet 340 kPa. Local values of heat transfer coefficient were calculated on the basis of empirical data from the experiment following the solution of the two-dimensional inverse heat transfer problem. This problem has been solved with the use of the finite element method in combination with Trefftz functions. Temperature approximates (linear combinations of Trefftz functions) strictly fulfill the governing equations. In presented method the inverse problem is solved in the same way as the direct problem. The results confirmed that considerable heat transfer enhancement takes place at boiling incipience in the minichannel flow boiling. Moreover, under subcooling boiling, local heat coefficients exhibit relatively low values.

In the present research, an experimental investigation was conducted to assess the heat transfer coefficient of aqueous citric acid mixtures. The experimental facility provides conditions to assess the influence of various operating conditions such as the heat flux (0–190 kW/m2), mass flux (353–1059 kg/m2s) and the concentration of citric acid in water (10%– 50% by volume) with a view to measure the subcooled flow boiling heat transfer coefficient of the mixture. The results showed that two main heat transfer mechanisms can be identified including the forced convective and nucleate boiling heat transfer. The onset point of nucleate boiling was also identified, which separates the forced convective heat transfer domain from the nucleate boiling region. The heat transfer coefficient was found to be higher in the nucleate boiling regime due to the presence of bubbles and their interaction. Also, the influence of heat flux on the heat transfer coefficient was more pronounced in the nucleate boiling heat transfer domain, which was also attributed to the increase in bubble size and rate of bubble formation. The obtained results were also compared with those theoretically obtained using the Chen type model and with some experimental data reported in the literature. Results were within a fair agreement of 22% against the Chen model and within 15% against the experimental data.

In this experimental investigation, the critical heat flux (CHF) of aqua-based multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) nanofluids at three different volumetric concentrations 0.2%, 0.6%, and 0.8% were prepared, and the test results were compared with deionized water. Different characterization techniques, including X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared, were used to estimate the size, surface morphology, agglomeration size and chemical nature of MWCNT. The thermal conductivity and viscosity of the MWCNT at three different volumetric concentrations was measured at a different temperature, and results were compared with deionized water. Although, MWCNT-deionized water nanofluid showed superior performance in heat transfer coefficient as compared to the base fluid. However, the results proved that the critical heat flux is increased with an increase in concentrations of nanofluids.

The pool boiling characteristics of dilute dispersions of alumina, zirconia and silica nanoparticles in water were studied. These dispersions are known as nanofluids. Consistently with other nanofluid studies, it was found that a significant enhancement in Critical Heat Flux (CHF) can be achieved at modest nanoparticle concentrations (<0.1% by volume). Buildup of a porous layer of nanoparticles on the heater surface occurred during nucleate boiling. This layer significantly improves the surface wettability, as shown by a reduction of the static contact angle on the nanofluid-boiled surfaces compared with the pure-water-boiled surfaces. CHF theories support the nexus between CHF enhancement and surface wettability changes. This represents a first important step towards identification of a plausible mechanism for boiling CHF enhancement in nanofluids.