Effect of wire diameter on ultrasonic enhancement of subcooled pool boiling

Abstract

Paper presented at the 9th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Malta, 16-18 July, 2012.

New methods for cooling of microelectronic elements have been recently developed, including application of ultrasonic fields. Ultrasonic fields enhance the heat transfer in two-phase cooling. The present work deals with ultrasonic enhancement of heat transfer from wires in sub-cooled pool boiling. The experiments have been carried out using three wires of different diameters: 0.05, 0.09, 0.2mm, submerged into a bath with water. The applied ultrasonic field was of frequency of 40 kHz and intensity of 0.5 W/cm2. The wire wall temperature was measured as a function of wire surface heat flux. When the ultrasonic field was applied, the wall temperature reduced in the range of measured heat fluxes. The temperature difference increased with the heat flux. It also increased with the wire diameter. At the smallest diameter only a small decrease of the wall temperature, about 10-15 degrees, was observed, while at larger diameters the decrease of the wall temperature was about 30 - 35 degrees.