Effect Of Subcooling On Pool Boiling Heat Transfer Over Minichannel Surfaces

In the present work, pool boiling experiments are performed on copper minichannel and flat surfaces at atmospheric pressure with water as the working fluid. The pool boiling experiments are conducted for liquid subcooling of 0K (saturated), 10K, and 20K at atmospheric pressure. Minichannel-1 and Minichannel-2 have a square cross-section with side lengths 1 mm and 2 mm, respectively. The thermal performance of the boiling surface is characterized by the critical heat flux and heat transfer coefficient. The critical heat flux (CHF) is increased by 36-45 % for minichannel-2 and 15-17 % for minichannel-1 compared to a flat surface at all subcoolings. CHF can be increased as high as 287.54 W/cm2 by employing minichannel-2 and 20 K subcooling. Minichannel-1 and minichannel-2 enhanced the heat transfer coefficient as high as 25.21% and 68.59 %, respectively, compared to the flat surface. It is observed that the increase in surface area is the dominant factor in the enhancement of pool boiling heat transfer on minichannel surfaces.