Pool boiling heat transfer on a thin plate: Features revealed by liquid crystal thermography

During pool nucleate boiling of water on a thin, electrically-heated plate, the motion of bubbles and the colourplay of a layer of thermochromic liquid crystal on the back of the plate were recorded simultaneously by a high-speed colour video camera at 200 frames/s. Quantitative conversion of the Hue component of the video signal to temperature provided information on the variations in wall superheat over an extensive region, on the mechanisms of heat transfer and on irregularities in the behaviour of nucleation sites. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.