Subatmospheric pool boiling of water at very low liquid levels

Abstract

The paper discusses how the vapour bubbles growing during boiling under the near-triple point pressure influence the heat transfer coefficient when the refrigerant level is lower than the bubble departure diameter. The experiments were carried out for liquid levels of 0.57 to 1.89 cm, saturated pressure range between 0.9 and 4 kPa (saturation temperatures between 5.5 and 29◦C). Boiling occurred on a plain surface with wall heat flux densities between 0.43 and 5.93 Wcm−2. We determined boiling curves for the low-pressure process and analyzed the changes in wall superheat for different filling levels. The experimentally obtained heat transfer coefficient (HTC) was compared with the theoretical values produced by the most popular mathematical expressions used at higher pressures. We also prepared the boiling map, where we specified two boiling regimes: the regime of convection or small popping bubbles and the regime of isolated bubbles. The results indicate that the level of liquid can be neglected within the heat flux range analyzed in this study. The main mechanism of heat transfer under measured conditions is heat convection and conduction, rather than evaporation. The experimentally determined difference between the heat transfer coefficients for different levels of liquid is under 100 Wm−2K−1 (for the same heat flux and pressure at the wall).