Effect of heater size on ultrasonic enhancement of boiling in water and surfactant solutions

• Effect of ultrasound field on subcooled boiling in water and surfactant solutions was studied.
• Enhancement of heat transfer from the wire of d = 50 µm and the tube of d = 1.5 mm was investigated.
• For d = 50 µm boiling enhancement decreases monotonically with increase in heat flux.
• For d = 1.5 mm enhancement of heat transfer almost does not change with increase in heat flux.

Experiments were performed to study enhancement of heat transfer from the wire of d = 50 µm and the tube of d = 1.5 mm in subcooled pool boiling by ultrasonic waves. The working fluids are clean water and Alkyl (8-16) Glucoside surfactant solutions of different concentrations and bulk temperature 30 °C. The wire resistance was translated to the temperature, using the calibration data, the temperature of the tube was measured by thermocouple. The differences between effect of ultrasonic field on boiling in water for heaters of d = 50 µm and d = 1.5 mm may be summarized as follows: for boiling on the wire of d = 50 µm in subcooled water, Tb = 30 °C, enhancement of heat transfer coefficient due to applied ultrasonic field is about 70% and 20% at heat flux q = 620 kW/m2 and q = 1350 kW/m2, respectively. For boiling in surfactant solutions at the same boiling conditions enhancement of heat transfer coefficient is in the range of 5–10% at heat flux q = 620 kW/m2 and 10–16% at heat flux q = 1350 kW/m2 depending on solution concentration. For boiling on the tube of d= 1.5 mm in subcooled water, Tb= 30 ℃, enhancement of heat transfer coefficient due to applied ultrasonic field is about 50% and 45% at heat flux q = 500 kW/m2 and q = 2500 kW/m2, respectively. The same values are obtained for boiling in surfactant solution of concentration C = 250 ppm. For the wire of d = 50 µm the heat transfer enhancement due to acoustic vibrations in surfactant solutions is not as strong as in water. This fact may be considered as evidence of significant role of relationship between jet flow and ultrasonic field.