Open Access

REVIEW

ONSET OF NUCLEATE BOILING IN MINI AND MICROCHANNELS: A BRIEF REVIEW

Tomio Okawa^*,†

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Osaka University, Suita-shi, Osaka 565-0871, Japan * Currently in Department of Mechanical Engineering and Intelligent Systems, The University of Electro-Communications, Chofu-shi, Tokyo 182-8585, Japan
† Corresponding author. Email: okawa.tomio@uec.ac.jp

Frontiers in Heat and Mass Transfer 2012, 3(1), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.5098/hmt.v3.1.3001

Abstract

The present article summarizes the studies on the thermalhydraulic condition under which the onset of nucleate boiling (ONB) is triggered in subcooled flow boiling. Available correlations and experimental data show that the ONB is tended to be delayed in mini and microchannels. It is known that the ONB condition is significantly dependent on the surface condition even in conventional-sized channels. Accumulation of ONB data accompanied by the information on the surface condition is therefore considered of importance to elucidate the mechanisms of boiling incipience in microchannels. Discussion is also made for the bubble dynamics observed in mini and microchannels. It is indicated that the bubble behavior at ONB in mini and microchannels may significantly be different from that in conventional-sized channels and have greater impact on the system performance. Further studies on the bubble dynamics following nucleation at ONB are also requested to improve the design of heat transfer devices using mini and microchannels.

---

Keywords

---