Effect of Pressure on Boiling Heat Transfer Mechanism by Using MEMS Technology

Since boiling heat transfer has a high heat transfer coefficient, it has been used as a cooling technique for high-temperature bodies and it has been investigated for more than 70 years [1]. However, it has not yet been fully clarified: because the boiling phenomena are affected by many factors, such as the coalescence of bubbles, the fluid convection, the heat conduction and the physics on the contact of the gas, the liquid and the solid phase, boiling phenomena are considerably complicated. The present paper investigated an effect of pressure on boiling heat transfer mechanism by using the MEMS technology. And, boiling heat transfer enhancement in water under low pressure and low boiling temperature was examined experimentally. Steady state pool boiling experiments were conducted by using a copper thin-film and a silicon wafer for the test heater and pure water at atmospheric condition for the test liquid. The system pressure was 0.010, 0.10 and 0.15 MPa, respectively. The heaters were made of a printed circuit board and a commercial silicon wafer. The width was 7.5 mm, the length was 10 mm. The test sections were arranged for horizontal position facing upward. The test heaters had an artificial cylindrical-cavity of 0.010 or 0.040 mm in diameter; the cavities were fabricated by using the MEMS technology, i.e., wet etching technology and deep RIE. The test heaters were heated by Joule heating of d.c. current from a low-voltage high-current stabilizer. The heating rate of the heater was determined from supplied current and voltage. The temperature of the heater was obtained by referring to the measured electric resistance. The present experimental results showed the boiling bubble grew up to about 20 mm in diameter then the bubble released without coalesce of bubble under low pressure condition. Thus, the bubble coalesce was slight. From the experimental results, the gradient of boiling curve by using the copper thin-film was about 3: the heat transfer characteristic was dominant to nucleate boiling. On the other hand, the gradient of boiling curve by using the Silicon wafer (Non-cavity) was about unity: the heat transfer was dominant to heat convection of single-phase flow. According to the present observation of the boiling bubbles, the boiling heat transfer was dominant to latent heat: the ratio of the phase change and the convection was about 90 % and 10 %, respectively. The heat transfer ratio of the convection increased as the system pressure increased.