An experimental study on enhancement of nucleate pool boiling heat tranfer by placing a sponge metal close to a plain heated surface was conducted in order to improve the heat transfer performance of the high temperature generator of absorption chiller/heater. The sponge metal has three dimensional porous mesh framework like sponge.
Boiling curves of water under the atmospheric pressure were compared with those of lithium bromide aqueous solution of mass concentration 55 to 58%. Heat transfer characteristics were improved by 2 to3 times both for water and lithium bromide aqueous solution when the sponge metal was placed on the heated surface with and without cleareance.
Three kinds of sponge metals were used for lithium bromide aqueous solution under the reduced pressure (24 kPa). At lower heat fluxes,#6 sponge metal which has the finest mesh and the lowest porosity shows excellent results. At high heat fluxes, however,it causes deterioration of heat transfer. Over the wide range of heat fluxes,# 4 sponge metal was found to be most suitable and the optimal clearence was determined as 0.5 mm.
The sponge metal is of good practical use as a device to enhance the boiling, since no special manufacturing is required for placing it on the heated surface.
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