Abstract
Boiling heat transfer characteristics of liquid nitrogen in a stainless steel plain tube and wire coil inserted tubes were investigated. The test tubes, which had an inner diameter of 10.6 m and a length of 1.65 m, were horizontally located. Five wire coils having different pitch and thickness were inserted into the plain tube. The pitches of the wire coils were 18.4, 27.6, and 36.8 m, and the thickness was 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 mm respectively. Tests were conducted at a saturation temperature of $-191^{\circ}$, mass fluxes from 58 to 105 kg/$m^2s$, and heat fluxes from 22.5 to 32.7 kw/$m^2$. A direct heating method was used to apply heat to the test section. The boiling heat transfer coefficients of liquid nitrogen were represented as a function of vapor quality, which showed significant drop at the dryout vapor quality. The maximum heat transfer enhancement using the wire coil inserted tubes over the plain tube was $174\%$ for 'Wire 3' having a thickness of 2.5 mm and a pitch of 18.4 mm.