Low mass quality flow boiling in microtubes at high mass fluxes

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In this article, an experimental study on boiling heat transfer and fluid flow in microtubes at high mass fluxes is presented. De-ionized water flow was investigated over a broad range of mass flux (1000 kg/m2s-7500 kg/m2s) in microtubes with inner diameters of ~ 250 micrometers and ~ 685 micrometers. The reason for using two different capillary diameters was to investigate the size effect on flow boiling. De-ionized water was used as working fluid, and the test section was heated by Joule heating. Heat transfer coefficients and qualities were deduced from local temperature measurements. It was found that high heat removal rates could be achieved at high flow rates under subcooled boiling conditions. It was also observed that heat transfer coefficients increased with mass flux, whereas they decreased with local quality and heat flux. Moreover, experimental heat flux data were compared with partial boiling correlations and fully developed correlations. It was observed that at low wall superheat values there was only a small inconsistency between the experimental data and the conventional partial boiling prediction method of Bergles, while the subcooled and low quality fully developed boiling heat transfer correlation of Kandlikar could fairly predict experimental results at high wall superheat values.