The movement of liquid drops on a surface with a radial surface tension gradient is described here. When saturated steam passes over a colder hydrophobic substrate, numerous water droplets nucleate and grow by coalescence with the surrounding drops. The merging droplets exhibit two-dimensional random motion somewhat like the Brownian movements of colloidal particles. When a surface tension gradient is designed into the substrate surface, the random movements of droplets are biased toward the more wettable side of the surface. Powered by the energies of coalescence and collimated by the forces of the chemical gradient, small drops (0.1 to 0.3 millimeter) display speeds that are hundreds to thousands of times faster than those of typical Marangoni flows. This effect has implications for passively enhancing heat transfer in heat exchangers and heat pipes.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/291/5504/633.full.pdf

Fast drop movements resulting from the phase change on a gradient surface.

Dropwise condensation heat transfer on ion implanted aluminum surfaces

Condensation on hybrid-patterned copper tubes (I): Characterization of condensation heat transfer

Recent advances in nanotechnology, chemical/physical texturing and thin film coating technology generate definite possibilities for sustaining a dropwise mode of condensation for much longer durations than was previously possible. The availability of superior experimental techniques also leads to deeper understanding of the process parameters controlling the relevant transport phenomena, the distinguishing feature of which is the involvement of a hierarchy of length/time scales, proceeding from nuclei formation, to clusters, all the way to macroscopic droplet ensemble, drop coalescence, and subsequent dynamics. This paper is an attempt to connect and present a holistic framework of modeling and studying dropwise condensation at these multiple scales. After a review of the literature, discussions on the following problems are presented: (i) atomistic modeling of nucleation; (ii) droplet–substrate interaction; (iii) surface preparation; (iv) simulation of fluid motion inside sliding drops; (v) experimental ...

/pdf/dropwise-condensation-studies-on-multiple-scales-3s6e8g03bs.pdf

Dropwise Condensation Studies on Multiple Scales

Experimental study of dropwise condensation on plasma-ion implanted stainless steel tubes

At atmospheric pressure filmwise (FWC) and dropwise (DWC) condensation have been studied on the surface of copper discs which were coated by silicon-modified amorpheous hydrogenated carbon (a-C : H-Si) films of different thickness. On vertically oriented surfaces the DWC heat transfer coefficients were found to be larger by a factor of about 10 than the FWC coefficients which follow as function of surface subcooling temperature quite well Nusselt’s theory. Varying the angle of surface inclination, the DWC coefficient decreased down to about 40% of the vertical-surface values for 180° (face down orientation). The mean value for all inclination angles between 30° and 180° was calculated to be 87.6% of the maximum value for the 90°-orientation. Partly coating of the copper surface indicates a strong heat transfer enhancement of DWC over FWC even for relative small coated parts (e.g., 19%-coating yields an enhancement by a factor 2.3 for a cooling water flow rate of 4 m3/h). The diamond like properties of the a-C : H-coatings promise long stand times and thus application also in real technical condensation systems.

A. Leipertz

Papers

Condensation of steam on the surface of hard coated copper discs