The paper presents experimental studies on boiling heat transfer in rectangular minichannels. The investigations focus on the transition from single phase forced convection to nucleate boiling, i.e., in the zone of boiling incipience. The experiment has been carried out with FC-72, R-123 and R-11 at the Reynolds number below 4700, corresponding to mass flow rate range 95-710 kg/(m s). The main part of the test section is a minichannel of pre-set depth from 0.7 to 2 mm and width (20, 40 and 60 mm), with different spatial orientations from vertical to horizontal and 30% inclination angle adjustment. The objective of the paper includes the impact of selected parameters (liquid flow velocity, pressure and inlet liquid subcooling, channel dimensions and spatial orientation) on the boiling incipience in minichannels. The investigations are intended to develop a correlation for the calculations of the Nusselt number under the conditions of boiling incipience in the minichannel as a function of changeable parameters.

The paper presents the application of liquid crystal thermography for temperature determination and visualisation of two phase flow images on the studied surface. Properties and applications of thermochromic liquid crystals are discussed. Liquid crystals were applied for two-dimensional detection of the temperature of the heating foil forming one of the surfaces of the minichannel along which the cooling liquid flowed. The heat flux supplied to the heating surface was altered in the investigation and it was accompanied by a change in the color distribution on the surface. The accuracy of temperature measurements on the surface with liquid crystal thermography is estimated. The method of visualisation of two-phase flow structures is described. The analysis of monochrome images of flow structures was employed to calculate the void fraction for some cross-sections. The flow structure photos were processed using Corel graphics software and binarized. The analysis of phase volumes employed Techsystem Globe software. The measurement error of void fraction is estimated.

Miniature heat exchangers are used to provide higher cooling capacity for new technologies. This means a reduction in their size and cost but the identical power. The paper presents the method for determination of boiling heat transfer coefficient for a rectangular minichannel of 0.1 mm depth, 40 mm width and 360 mm length with asymmetric heating. Experimental research has focused on the transition from single phase forced convection to nucleate boiling, i.e., the zone of boiling incipience. The ‘boiling front’ location has been determined from the temperature distribution of the heated wall obtained from liquid crystal thermography. The experiment has been carried out with R-123, mass flux 220 kg/(m2s), pressure at the channel inlet 340 kPa. Local values of heat transfer coefficient were calculated on the basis of empirical data from the experiment following the solution of the two-dimensional inverse heat transfer problem. This problem has been solved with the use of the finite element method in combination with Trefftz functions. Temperature approximates (linear combinations of Trefftz functions) strictly fulfill the governing equations. In presented method the inverse problem is solved in the same way as the direct problem. The results confirmed that considerable heat transfer enhancement takes place at boiling incipience in the minichannel flow boiling. Moreover, under subcooling boiling, local heat coefficients exhibit relatively low values.