Effects of coupling of groove microstructure and mixed wettability on flow boiling heat transfer enhancement of R134a in microchannels.

Mixing of surface microstructure and wettability is one of the future development trends. Their combination always affects the bubble motion and heat transfer coefficient under pool boiling/flow boiling, but it is difficult to distinguish their respective contributions. This work studies the combination of new microstructure and mixed wettability to improve the flow boiling heat transfer in the channel. The nucleation, growth, coalescence and departure behaviors of R134a boiling bubbles were numerically analyzed. Effects of different heights, gaps and mixed wettability of microstructures and heat fluxes on bubble emission frequency and boiling heat transfer coefficient were discussed. Results showed that this new microstructure provides the bubble with the momentum of lateral motion, which helps the bubble to merge and leave faster. The surface of the hydrophobic groove coupled with the hydrophilicity as the substrate can effectively increase the bubble emission frequency, up to 134.37%. At the same time, the heat transfer coefficient decreases with the increase of the height of the microstructure, and it also increases with the increase of the microstructure gap. Finally, the contribution of each variable was determined by analysis of variance. The research results in this paper provide a reference for heat pipe and vapor chamber. • A creative microchannels with mixed wettability was proposed and optimized. • Synergistic effect of groove microstructure and mixed wettability was studied. • Surface mixed wettability has more influence on boiling heat transfer. • Bubble emission frequency of surface-A is 134.37% higher than surface-B. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]