Factors Affecting Nucleate Boiling

Factors Affecting Nucleate Boiling

Since high heat transfer rates and convection coefficients are associated with small values of the excess temperature, it is desirable that many engineering devices operate in the nucleate boiling regime. It is possible to get heat transfer coefficients in excess of 10⁴ W/m² in nucleate boiling regime and these values are substantially larger than those normally obtained in convection processes with no phase change. The factors which affect the nucleate boiling are:

(a)  Pressure - Pressure controls the rate of bubble growth and therefore affects the temperature difference causing the heat energy to flow. The maximum allowable heat flux for a boiling liquid first increases with pressure until critical pressure is reached and then decreases.

Heating Surface Characteristics - The material of the heating element has a significant effect on the boiling heat transfer coefficient. Copper has a higher value than chromium, steel and zinc. Further, a rough surface gives a better heat transfer rate than a smooth or coated surface, because a rough surface gets wet more easily than a smooth one.

(c)  Thermo-mechanical Properties of Liquids - A higher thermal conductivity of the liquid will cause higher heat transfer rates and the viscosity and surface tension will have a marked effect on the bubble size and their rate of formation which affects the rate of heat transfer.

(d) Mechanical Agitation - The rate of heat transfer will increase with the increasing degree of mechanical agitation. Forced convection increases mixing of bubbles and the rate of heat transfer.