Enhanced pool boiling heat transfer with surface attachment

A pool boiling experiment with either water or Freon-113 was conducted to investigate nucleate boiling from a heated wall with either a spherical or a cylindrical attachment. The result revealed that nucleate boiling can be enhanced by applying a horizontal cylindrical attachment to a vertical heated wall, owing to the favorable thermal environment characterized by a small-gradient liquid temperature profile within the restricted regions between the attachment and the heated wait. Nucleate boiling is enhanced in terms of a lower wall superheat required for incipient boiling and more bubbles generated than from an open heated wall. As a result of the enhanced nucleate boiling, heal transfer of the vertical heated wall above the attachment was improved due to excessive bubbles moving upward along the heated wall, causing removal of the thermal layer near the wall and evaporation of the thin liquid film between the bubbles and the wall. The boiling curve hysteresis with Freon-113 was significantly reduced as a result. The effects of diameter, length and surface roughness of the cylindrical attachment were also investigated.