Low thermal conductivity is a primary limitation in the development of energy-efficient heat transfer fluids that are required in many industrial applications. In this paper we propose that an innovative new class of heat transfer fluids can be engineered by suspending metallic nanoparticles in conventional heat transfer fluids. The resulting {open_quotes}nanofluids{close_quotes} are expected to exhibit high thermal conductivities compared to those of currently used heat transfer fluids, and they represent the best hope for enhancement of heat transfer. The results of a theoretical study of the thermal conductivity of nanofluids with copper nanophase materials are presented, the potential benefits of the fluids are estimated, and it is shown that one of the benefits of nanofluids will be dramatic reductions in heat exchanger pumping power.

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Investigation on Convective Heat Transfer and Flow Features of Nanofluids

An introduction to heat transfer

In this review we focus on recent developments in applications of bio-inspired special wettable surfaces. We highlight surface materials that in recent years have shown to be the most promising in their respective fields for use in future applications. The selected topics are divided into three groups, applications of superhydrophobic surfaces, surfaces of patterned wettability and integrated multifunctional surfaces and devices. We will present how the bio-inspired wettability has been integrated into traditional materials or devices to improve their performances and to extend their practical applications by developing new functionalities.

Applications of Bio‐Inspired Special Wettable Surfaces

This paper explores the recent research developments in high-heat-flux thermal management. Cooling schemes such as pool boiling, detachable heat sinks, channel flow boiling, microchannel and mini-channel heat sinks, jet-impingement, and sprays, are discussed and compared relative to heat dissipation potential, reliability, and packaging concerns. It is demonstrated that, while different cooling options can be tailored to the specific needs of individual applications, system considerations always play a paramount role in determining the most suitable cooling scheme. It is also shown that extensive fundamental electronic cooling knowledge has been amassed over the past two decades. Yet there is now a growing need for hardware innovations rather than perturbations to those fundamental studies. An example of these innovations is the cooling of military avionics, where research findings from the electronic cooling literature have made possible the development of a new generation of cooling hardware which promise order of magnitude increases in heat dissipation compared to today's cutting edge avionics cooling schemes.

Assessment of high-heat-flux thermal management schemes

Superhydrophobic and superoleophobic surfaces have so far been made by roughening a hydrophobic material. However, no surfaces were able to repel extremely-low-energy liquids such as fluorinated solvents, which completely wet even the most hydrophobic material. We show how roughness alone, if made of a specific doubly reentrant structure that enables very low liquid-solid contact fraction, can render the surface of any material superrepellent. Starting from a completely wettable material (silica), we micro- and nanostructure its surface to make it superomniphobic and bounce off all available liquids, including perfluorohexane. The same superomniphobicity is further confirmed with identical surfaces of a metal and a polymer. Free of any hydrophobic coating, the superomniphobic silica surface also withstands temperatures over 1000°C and resists biofouling.

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Turning a surface superrepellent even to completely wetting liquids

Effect of Hydraulic Diameter on Condensation of R-134A in Flat, Extruded Aluminum Tubes

A semiempirical model is proposed to predict the condensation coefficient inside small hydraulic diameter extruded aluminum tubes having microgrooves. The model accounts for the effects of vapor shear and surface tension forces. Surface tension force is effective in enhancing the condensation coefficient as long as the fin tips are not flooded by condensate. This enhancement increases as mass velocity is reduced. At high mass velocity the flow is vapor shear controlled and the surface tension contribution is very small. The surface tension effect is strongly affected by the fin geometry. A smaller fin tip radius provides a higher surface tension drainage force. A large cross sectional area in the interfin region will allow the surface tension enhancement to occur at lower vapor quality. Separate models are developed for the surface tension and vapor shear controlled regimes and the models are combined in the form of an asymptotic equation. The vapor shear model is based on use of an equivalent mass velocity and the heat-momentum transfer analogy. The surface tension model is analytically based. The model is validated by predicting the authors' data for two tube geometries using R-12 and R-134a, and the model predicts 95 percent of the condensation data within ±16 percent.

Ralph L. Webb

Papers

Effect of Hydraulic Diameter on Condensation of R-134A in Flat, Extruded Aluminum Tubes

A Predictive Model for Condensation in Small Hydraulic Diameter Tubes Having Axial Micro-Fins

Falling water film evaporation on newly-designed enhanced tube bundles

Advanced micro-fin tubes for evaporation

Fouling in enhanced tubes using cooling tower water: Part II: combined particulate and precipitation fouling