https://www.mdu.se/

Nowadays thermal management becomes a challenge as it implies high power density with high losses converted to large heat release. For low power levels, natural or forced single-phase convection could be sufficient. For a much higher heat release nucleate boiling can be the alternative solution since it can dissipate the heat more efficiently, thanks to the latent heat effect present during the phase change. Its performance depends on many parameters that enable potential control and make system integration often very complex. The transition towards nucleate boiling, called Onset of Nucleate Boiling requires better estimation, and the mechanism still lacks understanding, especially in mini-channels. This study aims to characterize nucleate boiling in a rectangular mini-channel experimental set-up, built at Mälardalen university, to better characterize the onset of nucleate boiling and the fully developed bubbly flow. The experiment allows full control of single-phase and two-phase regimes by varying the thermo-hydraulic and heat transfer conditions. With the use of a high-speed camera, bubble dynamics and their principal characteristics such as size, shape, propagation, and nucleation site location are determined with a digital image analysis technique developed within this work. The image processing has proved to be successful even on noisy images due to shadows or background changes. The reconstruction of segmented bubbles enabled flexible and automated bubble and path detection with a statistical approach, especially at the Onset of Nucleate Boiling. Local Reynolds numbers are then estimated to determine the drag coefficient in the flow during bubble growth, or their coalescence.