Experimental Analysis of Flow Boiling in Horizontal Annulus—The Effect of Heat Flux on Bubble Size Distributions

Boštjan Zajec, Leon Cizelj and Boštjan Končar
Additional contact information
Boštjan Zajec: Reactor Engineering Division, Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova cesta 39, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Leon Cizelj: Reactor Engineering Division, Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova cesta 39, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Boštjan Končar: Reactor Engineering Division, Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova cesta 39, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 6, 1-12

Abstract: Subcooled flow boiling was experimentally investigated in a horizontal annulus with a temperature-controlled boiling surface and transparent outer pipe facilitating visualization. Boiling occurs on a copper tube with a diameter of 12 mm in an annulus with a 2 mm gap. Refrigerant R245fa is used as a working fluid. The focus of this study is to explore the effect of heat flux variation on the boiling flow patterns at approximately constant inlet flow conditions of the working fluid (fixed mass flux and inlet fluid temperature). Subcooled flow boiling is recorded by a high-speed camera, images are analyzed by a neural network to determine the bubble size distributions and their variation with the heat flux. The experimental setup being a part of the laboratory THELMA (Thermal Hydraulics experimental Laboratory for Multiphase Applications) at the Reactor Engineering Division of Jožef Stefan Institute, analysis methods and measurement results are presented and discussed.

Keywords: subcooled boiling; annulus; flow visualization; bubble size distribution; neural network image analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/6/2187/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/6/2187/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:6:p:2187-:d:772975

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().