Arvind Jaikumar

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. ...

Pool Boiling Enhancement through Graphene and Graphene Oxide Coatings

ABSTRACT Boiling has served as an effective means to dissipate large quantities of heat over small areas. Graphene, a two-dimensional material, has garnered significant attention of researchers due to its excellent thermal properties. In this study, copper test chips are dip coated with a solution consisting of graphene oxide and graphene and its pool boiling performance with distilled water at atmospheric pressure was investigated. The surfaces were characterized using X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and scanning electron microscopy which confirmed the presence of graphene and graphene oxide. The contact angles measured on the coated surfaces indicated hydrophobic wetting behavior. Four heat transfer surfaces were prepared with dip coating durations of 120 s, 300 s, 600 s, and 1200 s, respectively. A Critical Heat Flux (CHF) of 182 W/cm2 and a heat transfer coefficient (HTC) of 96 kW/m2°C was obtained with the shortest coating duration which translated to an enhancement of 42% in CHF and 47% in HTC when compared to a plain uncoated surface under similar conditions. Contact angle changes were not seen to be responsible, although roughness was seen as an influencing factor contributing to the enhancement. Further studies are needed to explain the enhancement mechanism.

Pool boiling inversion through bubble induced macroconvection

While numerous surface geometries have been explored to achieve enhancements in pool boiling critical heat flux and heat transfer coefficient (HTC), their mechanistic contributions towards the characteristics of the pool boiling curve are not clear. Recently reported pool boiling curves in literature have shown a trend where an increase in heat flux leads to a decrease in wall superheat. Consequently, a negative slope in the pool boiling curve accompanied by a sharp increase in HTC, termed here as boiling inversion, is observed. We demonstrate that this inversion is due to vapor stream induced reinforcement of an impinging liquid jet over the non-boiling regions. This behavior is characteristic of surfaces developed using separate liquid-vapor pathways and macroconvection enhancement mechanism resulting in a highly efficient self-sustained boiling configuration. The increased jet impingement velocities lead to higher HTCs with lower wall superheats. The analytical models available in literature are employ...

Bubble induced flow field modulation for pool boiling enhancement over a tubular surface

We demonstrate the efficacy of using a strategically placed enhancement feature to modify the trajectory of bubbles nucleating on a horizontal tubular surface to increase both the critical heat flux (CHF) and the heat transfer coefficient (HTC). The CHF on a plain tube is shown to be triggered by a local dryout at the bottom of the tube due to vapor agglomeration. To mitigate this effect and delay CHF, the nucleating bubble trajectory is modified by incorporating a bubble diverter placed axially at the bottom of the tube. The nucleating bubble at the base of the diverter experiences a tangential evaporation momentum force (EMF) which causes the bubble to grow sideways away from the tube and avoid localized bubble patches that are responsible for CHF initiation. High speed imaging confirmed the lateral displacement of the bubbles away from the diverter closely matched with the theoretical predictions using EMF and buoyancy forces. Since the EMF is stronger at higher heat fluxes, bubble displacement increas...

Effect of Channel Width on Pool Boiling Enhancement of Open Microchannels With Selective Sintered Porous Coatings

Thermal management in microelectronic devices involves development of high heat flux removal systems to meet the cooling requirements. Pool boiling addresses these demands by using latent heat transfer. In this study, heat transfer surfaces are fabricated by depositing porous coatings on an open microchannel surface. Screen printing and sintering are identified as techniques to deposit porous coatings and ensure substrate bonding respectively. Firstly, the effect of selective enhancement was studied by depositing porous coatings on (i) fin tops only (sintered-fin-tops), (ii) channels only (sintered-channels), and (iii) completely covering the boiling surface (sintered-throughout). The pool boiling performance with saturated distilled water at atmospheric pressure was obtained and a maximum critical heat flux (CHF) of 313 W/cm2 at a wall superheat of 7.5 °C was reported here for a sintered-throughout surface. Furthermore, the effect of channel width on sintered-throughout surfaces was studied. The results indicated that channel width plays an important in improving the performance. High speed videos are taken to understand the underlying mechanism. Additional nucleation sites and separate liquid-vapor pathways are identified as contributing mechanisms for the enhancement in CHF and heat transfer coefficient (HTC).Copyright

A Multiscale Morphological Insight into Graphene Based Coatings for Pool Boiling Applications

ABSTRACT The application of graphene for pool boiling is an attractive option to facilitate compaction and promote efficient heat removal from high power density devices. In this context, chemical characterization of the depositions achieved through commonly employed coating techniques are an important topic of discussion. A detailed structure-property relationship between the morphologies obtained on the mono and multilayered graphene coatings and their corresponding pool boiling performance quantified by the experimental critical heat fluxes is presented. Three different types of graphene (G) and graphene oxide (GO) substrates are characterized: (i) nanoscale: mono and multilayer samples developed through chemical vapor deposition, (ii) Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)-G/GO colloid generated through an oxygen embrittlement electrochemical process, and (iii) commercially available chemical vapor deposited (CVD)-G/GO colloid. The morphological features were characterized with scanning electron microscope while X-Ray Diffractometer analysis and Raman spectroscopy were used to examine the ordering and stacking of the sheets that result in the unique structural features. Fourier transform infrared and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy were employed to identify the overall compositional characteristics of the coated surfaces. The wettability changes and additional nucleation sites for nanoscale coatings, and multiscale roughness features and ridge microstructures for microscale coatings were identified as enhancement mechanisms.

Interplay between developing flow length and bubble departure diameter during macroconvection enhanced pool boiling

Enhanced boiling structures based on the concept of separate liquid-vapor (L-V) pathways rely on the motion of the bubbles departing from the nucleating regions (NRs) to induce a macroconvective liquid jet impingement flow over adjacent non-boiling regions. Heat transfer in the non-boiling regions can be improved by incorporating microchannels which act as feeder channels (FCs) that also improve liquid directionality towards the NR. We hypothesize that the single-phase flow characteristics in the developing region of the FC contribute to the boiling enhancement and explore the interplay between the FC length, developing flow length, and departure bubble diameter. FC lengths shorter than the developing flow length benefit from the enhancement due to developing boundary layers over their entire length. However, FC lengths shorter than the departure bubble diameter suffer from bubble interference while FC lengths that are considerably longer than the developing flow length exhibit lower heat transfer rates in the fully developed region. This hypothesis was verified by conducting pool boiling experiments with four feeder channel lengths between 1 mm and 3 mm using HFE-7000, PP1, PP1C, and water. Three distinct regions: (i) interfering bubble, (ii) efficient L-V pathways, and (iii) diminished jet were identified to explain the boiling performance enhancement. This analysis will be beneficial in the pursuit to enhance critical heat flux (CHF) and heat transfer coefficient (HTC) on surfaces utilizing macroconvection mechanisms during boiling with different liquids.Enhanced boiling structures based on the concept of separate liquid-vapor (L-V) pathways rely on the motion of the bubbles departing from the nucleating regions (NRs) to induce a macroconvective liquid jet impingement flow over adjacent non-boiling regions. Heat transfer in the non-boiling regions can be improved by incorporating microchannels which act as feeder channels (FCs) that also improve liquid directionality towards the NR. We hypothesize that the single-phase flow characteristics in the developing region of the FC contribute to the boiling enhancement and explore the interplay between the FC length, developing flow length, and departure bubble diameter. FC lengths shorter than the developing flow length benefit from the enhancement due to developing boundary layers over their entire length. However, FC lengths shorter than the departure bubble diameter suffer from bubble interference while FC lengths that are considerably longer than the developing flow length exhibit lower heat transfer rates i...

Coupled Motion of Contact Line on Nanoscale Chemically Heterogeneous Surfaces for Improved Bubble Dynamics in Boiling

We demonstrate that the contact line (CL) motion on energetically heterogeneous solid surfaces occurs in a coupled fashion as against the traditional staggered stick-slip motion. Introducing chemical inhomogeneities at nanoscale induces a local change in dynamic contact angles which manifests as a smooth and continuous motion of the CL. Nanoscale chemically inhomogeneous surfaces comprising of gold, palladium and nickel were generated on copper substrates to demonstrate the underlying CL dynamics. The spatial variations of chemical constituents were mapped using elemental display scanning electron microscope images. Further, the coupled and stick-slip motion was confirmed for a sliding water droplet on these surfaces, and then used in studying the pool boiling bubble dynamics of a single bubble from nucleation to departure. The coupled motion was seen to increase the CL velocity thereby increasing the contribution from transient conduction heat transfer. Consequently, a ~2X increase in the boiling critical heat flux (CHF) was observed. Enhancing the pool boiling performance by introducing nanoscale surface features is an attractive approach in many applications and this work provides a framework and understanding of the CL motion induced through the chemical inhomogeneity effects.