Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Pool Boiling Heat Transfer over Different Thickness of Graphene–Poly(3,4-Ethylenedioxythiophene):Poly(Styrenesulfonate) Layers on Copper Heater Surface

Abstract

The present study involves the use of dip nanocoating, one of the passive techniques by the modification of the heater surface to understand the behavior of pool boiling heat transfer characteristics at atmospheric pressure using deionized water and graphene–poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) as a working fluid and coating material. The copper specimen is coated with the mentioned material with varying thickness from 96.53 to 399.22 nm using the dip coating method. Surface characterization revealed the presence of graphene and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(4-styrenesulfonate) polymer over the copper specimen. The coating thickness, surface roughness, and contact angle conditions as input values are considered for numerical simulation, and a comparative study has been carried out with the experimental results. The plain copper surface result is compared with the Rohsenow correlation and found to be an acceptable level. The maximum augmentation in heat transfer coefficient is observed for the highest coating thickness and surface roughness at 52.6% and 123.3% for both evaluation method cases compared to the plain copper surface. The boiling outcomes are also confirmed with the bubble dynamics through both the investigations and the obtained bubble results satisfied with the best case result for augmentation.

Acknowledgments

Authors acknowledge the Central Instrumentation Center, Tripura University, Agartala for FE-SEM facility for structural analysis and the contribution of DST-FIST (SR/FST/ETI-391/2015(c)) sponsored Phase Change Heat Transfer Laboratory, National Institute of Technology Agartala, India, for providing the testing facility to complete the research work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sameer Sheshrao Gajghate

Sameer S. Gajghate is currently pursuing Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at the National Institute of Technology Agartala, Tripura, India, under the joint supervision of Prof. S. Bhaumik and Prof. B. B. Saha. He obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Umrer College of Engineering, Umrer (Maharashtra) in 2009, and his Masters in Mechanical-Heat Power Engineering from the Government College of Engineering, Karad, India in 2012. He is currently engaged in the cooling of high heat flux electronic devices through micro/nanostructure surfaces.

Sushant Vashistha

Sushant Vashistha received his B. Tech in Mechanical Engineering from B. M College of Technology and Management, Gurgaon, India in 2014, and M. Tech in Thermal Science and Engineering from NIT Agartala, India in 2018. He is a member of the institution of engineers (India). His research interests include boiling heat transfer, refrigeration and air conditioning, computation fluid dynamics. He has attended several national and international conferences in India during his education.

Bidyut Baran Saha

Bidyut Baran Saha is a Professor and Principal Investigator at the International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research (WPI-I2CNER) of Kyushu University, Japan. He received his B.Sc. (Hons.) and M.Sc. degrees from Dhaka University of Bangladesh. He received his Ph.D. in 1997 from the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan. His research interests include thermally powered adsorption systems, heat and mass transfer analysis, and energy efficiency assessment. He has published more than 400 articles in peer-reviewed journals and international conference proceedings. He has edited seven books and holds 21 patents. Recently, he served as managing Guest Editor for Applied Thermal Engineering, Heat Transfer Engineering, and International Journal of Refrigeration.

Swapan Bhaumik

Swapan Bhaumik is a Professor and former Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department and former Dean (Academic) & Dean (FW) of the National Institute of Technology Agartala, India. He received his B.E. from Calcutta University (1987), M. M. E. from Jadavpur University (1991), and Ph.D. degree from IIT Roorkee (2003). He has authored more than 50 papers in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings. His research interests include boiling heat transfer for micro-nano structures, refrigeration and air-conditioning, heat exchanger, and computational phase change heat transfer.