Convective Boiling Heat Transfer Enhancement by Microgrooves in Plate Evaporator

In this experimental study, we investigate the enhancement of heat transfer in ammonia on a new plate evaporator whose surface is configured with microgrooves. The microgrooves have a depth of 30 μm and a width of 200 μm. The local boiling heat transfer coefficients were measured on the evaporator. To compare the heat transfer characteristics of the evaporator, the local boiling heat transfer coefficient on a flat surface and on two microgrooved surfaces—one vertical and one horizontal to the direction of the ammonia flow—were measured at different ranges of mass flux (2–7.5 kg/m²s), heat flux (10–20 kW/m²), and saturation pressure (0.7–0.9 MPa). The results show that the local boiling heat transfer coefficient of the horizontal and vertical microgrooved surfaces was larger than that of a flat surface. In particular, the horizontal microgrooved surface had the best heat transfer coefficient.