Pool Boiling Critical Heat Flux Enhancement Using Three-Dimensional Porous Structures

Abstract

The downward liquid supply interrupt to the heated surface due to strong upward vapor flow during a pool boiling on a flat surface, known as hydrodynamic liquid-choking limit, triggers critical heat flux (CHF) phenomenon. Here, we study a new CHF enhancement technique where we can separate the directions of the liquid and vapor paths to overcome the hydrodynamic liquid-choking limit. We fabricated a three-dimensional copper porous structure by sintering of copper particles. The pool boiling results confirm that the generated vapors are successfully vented from the side of the structure as we expected. The maximum CHF was 2.9 MW/m² that is 2.4 times larger than the CHF on a flat copper surface.