Pool boiling heat transfer enhancement with segmented finned microchannels structured surface

An experimental investigation has been carried out to investigate pool boiling heat transfer characteristics of segmented finned (SF) microchannels structured surface and compare its performance with that of uniform cross-section (UCS) microchannels structured surface and plane surface. All three surfaces have been fabricated on individual copper block with a foot print area of 10 x 10 mm(2). Pool boiling experiments have been performed with these surfaces in atmospheric pressure condition using deionized water. Experiments have been performed for applied effective heat flux range of 0-200 W/cm(2). Both the structured surfaces show better heat transfer performance compared to plane surface. It has been observed that SF structured surface shows a heat transfer improvement up to a factor of 3 times the heat transfer coefficient in plane surface whereas uniform UCS structured surface shows the improvement by a factor of 2 times the heat transfer coefficient in plane surface. Thus segmented finned microchannels structured configuration shows better heat transfer performance compared to other two surfaces. The reason behind the heat transfer improvement in SF configuration might be due to more number of active nucleation sites, better rewetting phenomenon and favorable bubble growth and release mechanism. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.