Experimental study of spray cooling performance on micro-porous coated surfaces

Abstract

Experiments on evaporative spray cooling of flat heaters with plain and micro-porous coated surfaces were performed in this study. Micro-porous coated surfaces were made by using the DOM [Diamond particle, Omegabond 101, Methyl-Ethyl-Keton] coating method. In pure air-jet cooling, micro-porous coating did not show heat transfer improvement over plain surface. In spray cooling, however, three different flow patterns (complete wetting, evaporative wetting and dryout) were observed on both plain and micro-porous coated surfaces. The effects of various operating conditions, such as water flow rate, particle size, and coating thickness on the micro-porous coated surface were investigated. It was found that the level of surface wetting was an important factor in determining the performance of spray cooling. The level of surface wetting depended on the balance between the amount of liquid absorbed by capillary force over porosity and the amount of liquid evaporated. A micro-porous coated surface has a very high cooling capacity, especially in the evaporative wetting zone. The liquid flow rate and coating thickness are significant factors in the evaporative wetting zone, but are not in the complete wetting zone and the dryout zone.