Systematic heat transfer measurements in highly viscous binary fluids

Abstract

Investigations of flow boiling in highly viscous fluids show that heat transfer mechanisms in such fluids are different from those in fluids of low viscosity like refrigerants or water. To gain a better understanding, a modified standard apparatus was developed; it was specifically designed for fluids of high viscosity up to 1000 Pa∙s and enables heat transfer measurements with a single horizontal test tube over a wide range of heat fluxes. Here, we present measurements of the heat transfer coefficient at pool boiling conditions in highly viscous binary mixtures of three different polydimethylsiloxanes (PDMS) and n-pentane, which is the volatile component in the mixture. Systematic measurements were carried out to investigate pool boiling in mixtures with a focus on the temperature, the viscosity of the non-volatile component and the fraction of the volatile component on the heat transfer coefficient. Furthermore, copper test tubes with polished and sanded surfaces were used to evaluate the influence of the surface structure on the heat transfer coefficient. The results show that viscosity and composition of the mixture have the strongest effect on the heat transfer coefficient in highly viscous mixtures, whereby the viscosity of the mixture depends on the base viscosity of the used PDMS, on the concentration of n-pentane in the mixture, and on the temperature. For nucleate boiling, the influence of the surface structure of the test tube is less pronounced than observed in boiling experiments with pure fluids of low viscosity, but the relative enhancement of the heat transfer coefficient is still significant. In particular for mixtures with high concentrations of the volatile component and at high pool temperature, heat transfer coefficients increase with heat flux until they reach a maximum. At further increased heat fluxes the heat transfer coefficients decrease again. Observed temperature differences between heating surface and pool are much larger than for boiling fluids with low viscosity. Temperature differences up to 137 K (for a mixture containing 5% n-pentane by mass at a heat flux of 13.6 kW/m2) were measured.