Flow boiling in a rectangular micro/mini channel with self-rewetting and non-rewetting fluids

In this experimental investigation the influence of self-rewetting during flow boiling was studied in a horizontal microchannel during one-sided uniform heating. The channel had a width and height of 6 mm and 0.3 mm respectively. Local wall temperature and direct in-time flow visualisation was performed. The working fluids under consideration included water as base reference, pure 1-butanol, pure ethanol, dilute butanol-water self-rewetting mixtures, and a dilute ethanol-water binary mixture. Tests were conducted at mass fluxes of 10, 15 and 25 kg/m2s, over a range of heat fluxes to produce both single phase and two-phase quasi steady state flow data. Within the wall temperature ranges of interest, the butanol-water mixtures (5 and 7 by volume butanol) had surface tension characteristics that would draw liquid toward local wall hotspots. Local and average wall temperatures and heat transfer coefficients were obtained and considered against the governing flow pattern visualisations. In contrast to the other fluids, the self-rewetting butanol-water mixtures exhibited significantly more stable flow and more predictable saturation flow boiling heat transfer coefficient trends across all heat fluxes under consideration. At the lowest mass flux, it was found that an increase in the heat flux resulted in an improvement in the self-rewetting fluids heat transfer performance, while at higher mass fluxes this dependence was diminished. Across all mass fluxes and heat fluxes the 5 butanol-water outperformed its 7 butanol-water counterpart. The tendency of self-rewetting to reduce local dry-out, even at low mass fluxes are demonstrated. © 2024