Evaporation/boiling heat transfer characteristics in an artery porous structure

Nucleate boiling is one of the most efficient and effective heat transfer modes, but is limited by the critical heat flux (CHF). An innovative artery porous structure was proposed in this work to enhance the CHF based on the concept of “phase separation and modulation” by forming individual flow paths for liquid supply and vapor venting while keeping the liquid/vapor interface located in the porous structure. In the experiment, the porous structure was made of sintered copper microparticles, multiple arteries were machined directly on the heated surface, and water was employed as the working fluid. The experimental results were compared with those on a flat surface, and a unique evaporation/boiling curve for the artery porous structure was revealed. The experiment validated the principle proposed here for CHF enhancement, and a maximum heat flux of 416 W/cm2 on a heating area of 0.78 cm2 was achieved without the occurrence of any dryout. Further increase of heat flux was limited only by the design temperature of the electrical heater, and a much higher CHF can be expected. In addition, the effects of pore size, artery depth and contact condition on the evaporation/boiling heat transfer performance in the artery porous structure were also experimentally investigated, which can guide further design optimizations of this novel structure.