Design and Construction of Boiling Heat Transfer Apparatus

Boiling heat transfer is a fundamental mechanism in thermal systems, widely applied in power generation and chemical processing. This work presents the design, development, and evaluation of a laboratory-scale apparatus to examine boiling heat transfer under controlled conditions. The setup consists of a heated metal plate submerged in water, equipped with thermocouples to record both wall and fluid saturation temperatures. A circulation unit was incorporated to maintain steady operating conditions. Experiments were performed by varying the wall superheat to capture different boiling regimes. Heat transfer coefficients (h) and heat fluxes were determined through three approaches: direct power input and surface area calculation, an empirical correlation, and the Rohsenow nucleate boiling model. Results showed that both h and heat flux increased with rising wall superheat, consistent with theoretical expectations. The empirical method produced h values in the range of 695 to 4.34×104 W/m²·°C. Although the measured heat flux followed predicted trends, slight deviations were attributed to thermal losses through the system. The study demonstrates that the apparatus can reliably capture boiling behavior, while also highlighting design constraints. Enhancing insulation and scaling the system could further improve accuracy and extend applicability to industrial conditions.