Experiment # 2

Study of Flow Boiling Unit.

Objectives:
 Study of phases of Boiling.

 Study of boiling by increasing the flow rate of heated water.

 Study of boiling by increasing temperature of boiling water.

 Study reduction in boiling point by decreasing the pressure.

 Study of rate of condensation of the refrigerant with the temperature of water running

in the coil type condenser.

Theory:
In this experiment as we are discussing boiling point evaporation and condensation. We
first know what these terms actually are.

- Boiling:

The boiling point of a substance is the temperature at which the vapor pressure
of the liquid equals the pressure surrounding the liquid and the liquid changes into a
vapor.

A liquid in a vacuum has a lower boiling point than when that liquid is at
atmospheric pressure. A liquid at high-pressure has a higher boiling point than when
that liquid is at atmospheric pressure. In other words, the boiling point of a liquid varies
depending upon the surrounding environmental pressure. For a given pressure,
different liquids boil at different temperatures.

The normal boiling point (also called the atmospheric boiling point or the
atmospheric pressure boiling point) of a liquid is the special case in which the vapor
 pressure of the liquid equals the defined atmospheric pressure at sea level, 1
atmosphere. At that temperature, the vapor pressure of the liquid becomes sufficient to
overcome atmospheric pressure and allow bubbles of vapor to form inside the bulk of
the liquid. The standard boiling point is now (as of 1982) defined by IUPAC as the
temperature at which boiling occurs under a pressure of 1 bar.

- Evaporation:

Evaporation is a type of vaporization of a liquid that occurs from the

surface of a liquid into a gaseous phase that is not saturated with the evaporating
substance. The other type of vaporization is boiling, which is characterized by bubbles of
saturated vapor forming in the liquid phase. Steam produced in a boiler is another
example of evaporation occurring in a saturated vapor phase.

For molecules of a liquid to evaporate, they must be located near the

surface, be moving in the proper direction, and have sufficient kinetic energy to
overcome liquid-phase intermolecular forces. When only a small proportion of the
molecules meet these criteria, the rate of evaporation is low. Since the kinetic energy of
a molecule is proportional to its temperature, evaporation proceeds more quickly at
higher temperatures. As the faster-moving molecules escape, the remaining molecules
have lower average kinetic energy, and the temperature of the liquid decreases. This
phenomenon is also called evaporative cooling. This is why evaporating sweat cools the
human body. Evaporation also tends to proceed more quickly with higher flow rates
between the gaseous and liquid phase and in liquids with higher vapor pressure.

Vapor Pressure:

Vapor pressure or equilibrium vapor pressure is defined as the pressure exerted

by a vapor in thermodynamic equilibrium with its condensed phases (solid or liquid) at a
given temperature in a closed system. The equilibrium vapor pressure is an indication of
a liquid's evaporation rate. It relates to the tendency of particles to escape from the
liquid (or a solid). A substance with a high vapor pressure at normal temperatures is
often referred to as volatile.

EVAPORATION VS BOILING

Ordinary evaporation is a surface phenomenon - since the vapor pressure is low and since the
pressure inside the liquid is equal to atmospheric pressure plus the liquid pressure, bubbles of
water vapor cannot form. But at the boiling point, the saturated vapor pressure is equal to
atmospheric pressure, bubbles form, and the vaporization becomes a volume phenomenon.

This experiment is to see the effects of boiling and for this the machine used is WL 210 Demo
Unit Flow Boiling.

The Overall system is divided into 3 autonomous circuits.

- Evaporation Circuit
- Heating Circuit
- Cooling Circuit

Diagram:
The central component is a glass tube (1). The actual evaporation takes place inside the tube.
The top upper end of this tube opens into a glass container (2). This serves as a condenser and
collector for the evaporation fluid. A water cooled coil (3) provides cooling.

In the top lid of the collector there is a pressure relief valve (4) and a vent (5), and a manometer
(6). The evaporation fluid flows from the collector back to the generating tube. A flow control
valve (7) controls flow rate.
By means of water jet air pump (8) a defined vacuum can be generated in the evaporation
circuit. The water jet is activated via the valve (9).

Heating Circuit:
The heating water is heated by the electrical heater (13) and the delivery pump
(12) into the expansion tank (10). From there the water flows into the generating tuber (1). A
thermometer (11) measures the intake air temperature. The water temperature is
thermostatically controlled and can be adjusted on the heater.

Cooling Circuit:
The cooling water, like the water for the jet pump is taken from the water main
(15). After passing through the condenser pipe (3) the water is fed into an outlet (16). A valve
(14) in the inlet allows the cooling power to adjust.

Evaporation fluid:
The evaporation fluid is a refrigerant, a substance which produces
cooling, SES 36/Solvay/solkathem.

- It has low boiling point 36.7°C

- Low heat of vaporization
- Non toxic
- Thermally stable
- No CFCs

All the components are mounted in a white board. The board is fitted with castors, and is
mobile.
The switch (17) activates the circulation pump and the heater. Cooling water is fed in and it by
way of the connections (15) and (16).
We will observe the following boiling phases.

- Sub cooled region (1)

- Bubbly flow (2)
- Slug flow (3)
- Annular flow (4)
- Film flow(5)
- Dry saturated steam (6)
- Super-heated steam (7)

The cold water enters from the below pipe. As the temperature rises little
bubbles of steam occur. This is the sub cooled region. As the temperature
rises further steam bubbles appear in the pipe this is the bubbly flow. The
temperature is now at boiling point and remains constant. The small
bubbles go up and merge into large bubbles. As they fill most of the cross
section area of the pipe and go up, they are known as in slug flow. After
this occur the annular flow in which the center is filled with only steam and
droplets of water. Film flow occurs at the end of ring flow. After this the
steam gains more heat n moisture from it is removed this is known as dry
saturated steam. After this stage on gain more heat some molecule heat contents become very
high they are in super-heated form now.

Procedure:
The experiment is carried as given in the following steps.

1. Set the apparatus and turn on the machine.

2. Check all the things are in place and the instruments are clean and working.

3. Set the heater (13) to 60°C.

4. Fully open cooling water valve (14).

5. Open circulation control valve (7) 1/2 a turn.

6. Close vent valve (5).

 7. Switch on heater and pump (17).

8. Water temperature on the thermometer (11) rises.

9. Around 40°-50°C the first evaporation begins, and the pressure (6) in the collector rises.

10. At around 60° and a little rise in pressure the boiling zones as discussed above are
formed in the evaporator pipe (1).

11. By setting the things right and controlling the temperatures and pressure we can see all
the phases of boiling clearly.

Observations and Calculations:

 Water level in expansion tank

Warm – 70% ; Cold – 50%
 Pipe and tank max. Heating temperature = 80°C
 Max. pressure in evaporation circuit = 1.5 bar
 Evaporation fluid level in the collector = 2-3 cm
 Pressure of water in air pump = 0.5 bar
 Power output = 2.1 KWH
 Power supply = 230V/50Hz
 Heat of vaporization = 118KJ/Kg

Observations:

In this experiment we see the different phases of boiling of the fluid as shown
in the diagrams and described in the theory. They all are inter linked with each other in a
manner.
 Then we also saw that effect of increasing the flow rate of water can affect the boiling of
the fluid used. As the water flows rapidly less contact time will be available and heat
transfer will be low so boiling will take more time and if water has low flow rate boiling will
be faster as contact time is sufficient.

We saw that if we increase the temperature of the heated water its effect on the fluid will
be, that its boiling temperature will be achieved soon. Due to the increased temperature of
water and the heat exchanged.

As we know that on decreasing the pressure the boiling temperature also decreases. So if
we decrease the pressure the boiling point of the fluid will also decrease causing it to
condense rapidly and get back into the liquid form.

Now as we know that there is cold water flowing in the coil type condenser to extract heat
form the refrigerant. If the water is at low temperature means it is cold water then it will
extract more heat form the refrigerant and the rate of condensation of the refrigerant will
increase. But if the temperature is high of the condensing water then it will extract less heat
form the refrigerant and condensation will be slow or may occur in the loss of refrigerant.

Applications of Flow Boiling Unit:

1. H411 Flow Boiling Demonstration Unit

The H411 is a floor-mounted unit designed to provide a visual demonstration of the
flow boiling processes that can occur inside the vapor generating tubes of practical
plant such as refrigeration, steam, chemical and food processing systems.

2. It is mostly used in microelectronic cooling. Systems used in offices and houses known
as central cooling systems, which are auto operated.

3. Flow boiling in tubes is used in many applications, including steam generators, nuclear
reactors, and cooling of electronic components.
4. As the flow boiling is widely used, many early efforts were devoted to predicting its
performance, such as experimental measurement of the heat transfer coefficient and
critical heat flux under different conditions.

5. Flow boiling heat transfer has proved to be an efficient way of cooling in high heat flux
removal applications, such as heat removal in nuclear reactor cores.

6. Sub cooled flow boiling is especially of interest for nuclear industry applications since it’s
normally present in typical pressurized water reactor (PWR) cores and plays an
important role in cooling the reactor core. Other than the high heat transfer capacity,
which is essential for nuclear reactor heat transfer, sub cooled flow boiling is also of
interest since it has been identified as a possible reason for inducing the CRUD (Chalk
River Unidentified Deposits) layer found on fuel bundles. This layer potentially causes
the undesired reactor power shift, normally referred as axial offset anomaly (AOA). In
addition, the understanding of critical heat flux in sub cooled flow boiling is critical for
reactor safety and design of nuclear reactors.

Nothing is true Everything is

Permitted