EXPERIMENT NO: 5

OBJECTIVE:

Visual demonstration of the three modes of boiling and determination of heat flux and surface
heat transfer coefficient at constant pressure.

ABSTRACT:

This experiment was performed to observe three different modes of boiling i.e. convective boiling,
nucleate boiling and film boiling. The apparatus used for this purpose was boiling heat transfer
unit. It consists of a vertical glass cylinder containing a horizontally mounted heating element
immersed in the liquid, a surface temperature thermometer, four glass thermometers, wattmeter,
pressure gauge and water flowmeter. At the top of cylinder is a coil through which cooling water
flows. This condenses the vapor produced by the heat input and the liquid formed returns to the
bottom of the cylinder for re-evaporation. The heat input can be varied to control the heat flux and
hence the mode of boiling. The calculations were made to determine the values of heat flux and
surface heat transfer coefficient (h).

INTRODUCTION:

 DESCRIPTION OF THE UNIT:

(Refer to the schematic diagram Figure 1)

An electric heating element made of copper is submerged in R14lb liquid mounted horizontally
in a vertical glass chamber. The temperature of the heating element is measured by a
thermocouple and digital temperature indicator. The electrical input to the heater is controlled
by a phase angle controller. The heat transfer rate is displayed on a digital wattmeter. At the upper
end of the chamber is the condenser. Condenser is made up of a nickel plated coil of copper tube
through which cooling water flows. A condenser water flow meter is used in conjunction with
the glass thermometers measuring the condenser water temperatures. This enables the rate of heat
transfer at the condenser to be measured. Glass thermometers are also mounted inside the glass
cylinder to indicate the temperature of the liquid and the vapor.
  THEORY:

BOILING HEAT TRANSFER:

At saturation temperature, when a liquid is in contact with the surface of solid (usually metal) at a
high temperature, heat is transferred to the liquid and a phase change (evaporation) of some of the
liquid occurs. The nature and rate of this heat transfer changes considerably as the temperature
difference between the metal surface and the liquid is increased. There are three modes of boiling
such as:

 Convective boiling
 Nucleate boiling
 Film boiling
 CONVECTIVE BOILING:

When the heating surface temperature is slightly greater then the saturation temperature of the
liquid, the excess vapor pressure does not produce bubbles. The locally warm liquid expands and
convection currents carry it to the surface where evaporation takes place and thermal equilibrium
is stored.

 NUCLEATE BOILING:

As the surface temperature increases, the excess of vapor pressure over liquid pressure also
increases and bubbles are formed. This is the phase of onset of bubble formation. On the heating
surface, nucleating sites are present from which the formation of a bubble takes place. Due to the
vigorous bubble formation turbulence occurs. Therefore, heat transfer rate increases.

 FILM BOILING:

Above a critical surface-liquid temperature difference, it is found that the surface becomes “vapor
locked” and the liquid is unable to wet the surface. When this happens, there is reduction in heat
transfer rate and if the heat input to the metal is not immediately reduced to match the lower ability
of the surface to transfer heat, the metal temperature will rise until radiation from the surface plus
the limited film boiling heat transfer, is equal to the energy input. If the energy input is in the form
of work, there is no limit to the temperature which could be reached by the metal and its
temperature can rise until a failure or a “burn out” occurs.

CONDENSING HEAT TRANSFER:

Condensation of a vapor onto a cold surface maybe “film wise” or “drop wise”. When film wise
condensation occurs, the surface is completely wetted by the condensate and the condensation is
onto the outer layer of the liquid film, the heat passing through the film and into the surface largely
by conduction. By treating a surface with a suitable compound it may be possible to promote “drop
wise” condensation. When this occurs the surface is not wetted by the liquid and the surface
becomes covered with beads of liquid which combine to form drops which then fall away leaving
the surface bare for a repetition of the action. Heat transfer coefficients with drop wise
condensation are higher then the film wise owing to the absence of liquid film. The following
graph explains the different modes of boiling:
 Figure 2: Graph showing modes of boiling

P-V-T DIAGRAM OF WATER:

Figure 3: P Vs T showing different phases of water Figure 4: P Vs V graph of water

PROCEDURE:

1. TO OBSERVE THE MODES OF BOILING:

 The electric and water supplies were turned on and power was adjusted to very low settings
(<20 watts). The digital temperature indicators to stabilize were allowed.
 The digital temperature and the liquid temperature at frequent intervals were observed.
 After that, convective mode of boiling was observed. After sometime, bubble formation
started and nucleate boiling was observed.
 By increasing the power input, and at between 300 and 400 Watts the nature of the boiling
was seen to change dramatically and at the same time the metal-liquid temperature
difference was risen quickly.
 The heat input was reduced to 40 Watts and film boiling was observed. After that, the input
was down to zero and film boiling was reverted to nucleate boiling.
2. TO DETERMINE HEAT FLUX AND HEAT TRANSFER COEFFICIENT AT
CONSTANT PRESSURE:
 The heat input was adjusted to 50 Watts and the condenser water flow rate was adjusted
until the desired condenser pressure was reached.
 The power, vapor pressure, liquid temperature and metal temperature was noted.
 The heat input was increased to 100 Watts and the condenser water flow rate was adjusted
to give the desired pressure.
 The procedure was repeated until the transition from nucleate to film boiling is reached.
When film boiling is established the heat input was reduced and the readings until the
temperature of heater was reached to 160ºC.

OBSERVATIONS & CALCULATIONS:

The effective area (A) of the heat transfer surface of the heater is 1.8*10-3m2.

Heat input Liquid Metal Flow rate

Q(W) temperature temperature (g/sec.)
t2(ºC) t1(ºC)
50 25 50 0
 100 37 56 2
150 42 59 4
200 43 62 6
250 44 64 8
300 45 70 10

From which:

Heat flux = Q/A ø(KWm-2) Temperature difference t1- Surface heat transfer
t2=(K) coefficient = ø/Temp.
difference h(kWm-2K-1)
27 25 1.08
55 19 2.89
83 17 4.88
111 19 5.84
138 20 6.9
166 25 6.64

CALCULATIONS:

Heat flux = ø = 50/1.8*10-3 = 27 KWm-2

h = ø / t1-t2 = 27/25 = 1.08 KWm-2K-1

GRAPH NO:1
8
coefficient h(KWm-2K-1)

7
Surface heat transfer

6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Temperature difference (t1-t2) (K)
GRAPH NO:2

180
160
Heat flux Q/A ø(KWm-2)
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Temperature difference t1-t2 (K)

DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION:

As it is evident from these graphs, by increasing the heating input temperature of the heating
element rises which in turn increases the temperature of the liquid. When the temperature of the
liquid increases, three modes of boiling i.e.: convective, nucleate and film boiling can be
observed. Heat flux also rises. Due to the formation of bubbles in vigorous phase of nucleate
boiling, turbulence inside the liquid increases because of which heat transfer rate coefficient is
increased. During film boiling, the formation of vapor film acts as an insulator. Therefore, the
transfer of heat from heating surface to liquid totally takes place through radiation. Due to this
reason, the heat transfer rate coefficient exceeds through the critical point.

REFERENCES:

1. LAB Manual of Process Heat Transfer

2. www.techequipment.com

3. www.P.A.Hilton.com

4. www.sciencedirect.com