Critical heat flux of pool boiling on Si nanowire array-coated surfaces

• Published in: International journal of heat and mass transfer Vol. 54; no. 25; pp. 5359 - 5367
• Main Authors: Lu, Ming-Chang, Chen, Renkun, Srinivasan, Vinod, Carey, Van P., Majumdar, Arun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01-12-2011; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Boiling; Critical heat flux; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Exact sciences and technology; Heat transfer; Heaters; Heating equipment; Hydrodynamics; Nanocomposites; Nanomaterials; Nanostructure; Nanowires; Pool boiling; Pools; Silicon; Theoretical studies. Data and constants. Metering; Hydrodynamics; Nanowires; Critical heat flux; Pool boiling; Water; Array; Test facility; Volume boiling; Critical heat flow; Nanostructure; Silicon; Experimental study; Wire; Coated material; Heat transfer
• ISSN: 0017-9310; 1879-2189
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2011.08.007

Pool boiling of saturated water on plain Si surfaces and surfaces covered with a dense array of Si nanowires (SiNWs) has been studied. Measured CHF and heat transfer coefficient (HTC) values of about 223
±
5.61
W/cm
2 and 9
±
1.60
W/cm
2
K, respectively, on the nanowire array-coated surface are among the highest reported in boiling heat transfer. Meanwhile, the CHFs on both nanowire-coated and Plain Si surfaces show a similar heater size dependence – the CHF increases as heater size decreases. The measured CHFs on both types of surfaces are approximately following the prediction of the hydrodynamic theory assuming the Helmholtz wavelength equal to the corresponded heater length. It suggests that the CHFs on both types of surfaces might be limited by pool hydrodynamics.