Modeling of Spray Cooling: Convective Flow Effect on Vapor Bubble Dynamics and Heat Transfer

Author(s):  
Rathinam Selvam ◽  
Suranjan Sarkar ◽  
Rengasamy Ponnappan
Author(s):  
R. Panneer Selvam ◽  
Joseph Johnston ◽  
Suranjan Sarkar

In this paper, we present an extension of the level set method from 2D into 3D for solving multiphase flow problems using distributed parallel computing. The model solves the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations to study the behavior of a bubble immersed in a thin liquid film at microscale as found in a spray cooling environment. Since modeling all aspects of spray cooling, including nucleation, bubble dynamics, droplet impact, convection and thin film evaporation is very difficult at this time; these phenomena have been divided and studied separately in order to study the heat transfer behavior of each phenomenon individually. We studied the droplet impact effect as seen in spray cooling by our 3D multiphase model in earlier studies. Through the 3D multiphase model this study simulates the dynamics of a nucleating bubble in a thin liquid film that merges with the ambient atmosphere above the film. In this study we did not consider the droplet impact effect to concentrate on the vapor bubble dynamics in thin liquid film and its effect on heat transfer. The effect of convective flow is not considered to keep the 3-D model simple. However the 2D model was modified to simulate the effect that a horizontal flow of constant velocity has on the growth and detachment of a nucleating bubble and discussed in the second part of the paper. This study illustrates the importance of considering the convective flow effect in our 3-D multiphase flow model in future with droplet impact for spray cooling modeling studies.


Author(s):  
Xiaopeng Qu ◽  
Huihe Qiu

The effect of acoustic field on the dynamics of micro thermal bubble is investigated in this paper. The micro thermal bubbles were generated by a micro heater which was fabricated by standard Micro-Electro-Mechanical-System (MEMS) technology and integrated into a mini chamber. The acoustic field formed in the mini chamber was generated by a piezoelectric plate which was adhered on the top side of the chamber’s wall. The dynamics and related heat transfer induced by the micro heater generated vapor bubble with and without the existing of acoustic field were characterized by a high speed photograph system and a micro temperature sensor. Through the experiments, it was found that in two different conditions, the temperature changing induced by the micro heater generated vapor bubble was significantly different. From the analysis of the high speed photograph results, the acoustic force induced micro thermal bubble movements, such as forcibly removing, collapsing and sweeping, were the main effects of acoustic enhanced boiling heat transfer. The experimental results and theoretical analysis were helpful for understanding of the mechanisms of acoustic enhanced boiling heat transfer and development of novel micro cooling devices.


Author(s):  
Ruey-Hung Chen ◽  
David S. Tan ◽  
Kuo-Chi Lin ◽  
Louis C. Chow ◽  
Alison R. Griffin ◽  
...  

Droplet and bubble dynamics and nucleate heat transfer in saturated FC-72 spray cooling were studied using a simulation model. Using the experimentally observed bubble growth rate, submodels were assumed based on physical reasoning for the number of secondary nuclei entrained by the impinging droplets, bubble puncturing by the impinging droplets, bubble merging and the spatial distribution of secondary nuclei. The predicted nucleate heat transfer was in agreement with experimental findings. Dynamic aspects of the droplets and bubbles, which had been difficult to observe experimentally, and their ability in enhancing nucleate heat transfer were then discussed based on the results of the simulation. These aspects include bubble merging, bubble puncturing by impinging droplets, secondary nucleation, bubble size distribution and bubble diameter at puncture. Simply increasing the number of secondary nuclei is not as effective in enhancing nucleate heat transfer as when it is also combined with increased bubble puncturing frequency by the impinging droplets. For heat transfer enhancement, it is desirable to have as many small bubbles and as high a bubble density as possible.


2008 ◽  
Vol 130 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruey-Hung Chen ◽  
David S. Tan ◽  
Kuo-Chi Lin ◽  
Louis C. Chow ◽  
Alison R. Griffin ◽  
...  

Droplet and bubble dynamics and nucleate heat transfer in saturated FC-72 spray cooling were studied using a simulation model. The spray cooling system simulated consists of three droplet fluxes impinging on a smooth heater, where secondary nuclei outnumber the surface nuclei. Using the experimentally observed bubble growth rate on a smooth diamond heater, submodels were assumed based on physical reasoning for the number of secondary nuclei entrained by the impinging droplets, bubble puncturing by the impinging droplets, bubble merging, and the spatial distribution of secondary nuclei. The predicted nucleate heat transfer was in agreement with experimental findings. Dynamic aspects of the droplets and bubbles, which had been difficult to observe experimentally, and their ability in enhancing nucleate heat transfer were then discussed based on the results of the simulation. These aspects include bubble merging, bubble puncturing by impinging droplets, secondary nucleation, bubble size distribution, and bubble diameter at puncture. Simply increasing the number of secondary nuclei is not as effective in enhancing nucleate heat transfer as when it is also combined with increased bubble puncturing frequency by the impinging droplets. For heat transfer enhancement, it is desirable to have as many small bubbles and as high a bubble density as possible.


Author(s):  
Zhe Yan ◽  
Shanshan Li ◽  
Lichun Li ◽  
Bili Deng ◽  
Zhenhai Pan

Abstract Dynamics and breakup characteristics of a vapor bubble when traveling through the T-junction of a heated branching microchannel are numerically investigated with the Volume of Fluid-Continuum-Surface-Force (VOF-CSF) method. The moving reference frame method, which has been demonstrated to help suppressing the unphysical spurious velocity around the liquid-vapor interface (Numer. Heat Trans. 67, 1–12), is employed and coupled to the VOF-CSF model. In order to evaluate the influence of the wall heating on the growth and breakup of vapor bubble, the saturated-interface-volume phase change model is further coupled to account for the phase change on the bubble interface. The numerical model is first validated against experimental results in literature. Then the effect of wall superheat on bubble dynamics and heat transfer coefficient is investigated. Bubble motion, growth, breakup and heat transfer characteristics at different wall superheats are analyzed in detail. Four bubble breakup regimes are observed, namely non-breakup (NB), breakup with tunnel (TB), combined breakup (CB) and breakup with permanent obstruction (OB). The present study reveals the transport details around an evaporating vapor bubble and helps understanding the underlying physics of bubble behaviors when traveling through a T-shaped branching microchannel.


2009 ◽  
Vol 131 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Suranjan Sarkar ◽  
R. Panneer Selvam

Thermal management issues have become a major bottleneck for further miniaturization and increased power consumption of electronics. Power electronics require more increasing use of high heat flux cooling technologies. Spray cooling with phase change has the advantage of large amount of heat transfer from the hot surface of many power electronics. Spray cooling is a complex phenomenon due to the interaction of liquid, vapor, and phase change at small length scale. A good understanding of the underlying physics and the heat removal process in spray cooling through numerical modeling is needed to design efficient spray cooling system. A computational fluid dynamics based 3D multiphase model for spray cooling is developed here in parallel computing environment using multigrid conjugate gradient solver. This model considers the effect of surface tension, gravity, phase change, and viscosity. The level set method is used to capture the movement of the liquid-vapor interface. The governing equations are solved using finite difference method. Spray cooling is studied using this model, where a vapor bubble is growing in a thin liquid film on a hot surface and a droplet is impacting on the thin film. The symmetry boundary condition considered on four sides of the domain effectively represents a large spray made up of multiple equally sized droplets and bubbles and their interaction. Studies have also been performed for different wall superheats in the absence of vapor bubble to compare the effect of two-phase heat transfer compared to single-phase in spray cooling. The computed interface, temperature, and heat flux distributions at different times over the domain are visualized for better understanding of the heat removal mechanism.


Author(s):  
R. Panneer Selvam ◽  
Sandya Bhaskara ◽  
Juan C. Balda ◽  
Fred Barlow ◽  
Aicha Elshabini

Spray cooling is a high flux heat removal technique considered for systems dissipating high power within small areas such as advanced lasers. Recently Selvam and Ponnappan (2004 & 2005) identified the importance of modeling heat transfer in a thin liquid film on a hot surface at the micro level and illustrated how this micro level modeling could help to improve the macro level spray cooling. The goal of this research is to advance the theoretical understanding of spray cooling to enable efficient system level hardware designs. Two-phase flow modeling is done using the level set method to identify the interface of vapor and liquid. The modifications made to the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations to consider surface tension and phase change are presented. The equations are solved using the finite difference method. The effect of liquid droplet impact on a 40 μm thick liquid film containing vapor bubble and the consequent heat removal is explained with a sequence of temperature vs. time contours. From that, the importance of fast transient conduction in the liquid film leading to high heat flux in a short time is illustrated. The optimum positioning of the droplet with respect to the vapor bubble for effective heat removal is also systematically investigated. This information is expected to help in proper positioning of the droplet in three-dimensional modeling.


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