An Experimental Investigation of Electrowetting Modulated Nucleate Boiling

Electrowetting (EW) has drawn significant research interests in droplet-based microfluidics, and most applications focus on electronic displays, lab-on-a-chip devices and electro-optical switches, etc. In this work, we report a novel application of EW in enhancing nucleate boiling heat transfer. The working approach capitalizes on the complimentary roles of hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity in the fundamental processes of nucleate boiling, and takes advantage of the ability of EW to dynamically alter the surface wettability at different thermal loads. For instance, at low-to-moderate heat fluxes, the boiling surface remains hydrophobic so that onset of nucleate boiling (ONB) commences spontaneously and excellent boiling heat transfer can be obtained. When the bubble growth and merger intensify at high fluxes, EW will be activated to change the surface to hydrophilic, thereby delaying the critical heat flux (CHF). In this work, we demonstrate the creation of such tunable adaptive boiling surfaces, and examine the effects of both direct current (DC) EW and alternating current (AC) EW on the overall boiling heat transfer characteristics. A synchronized high-speed optical imaging and infrared thermography approach is taken to obtain simultaneous measurements of the bubble dynamics and temperature distribution on the boiling surface. Boiling curves are constructed and the boiling heat transfer coefficients are computed for an EW-modulated surface, and the comparison with those for hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces shows clearly the efficacy of using EW to drastically improve the boiling heat transfer performance. Some insights are also offered on the boiling heat transfer mechanisms under the influence of EW.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Mechanical Engineering

Grantor

University of Houston

Year dc:date.issued

2014

Author dc:creator

• Sur, Aritra

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Liu, Dong

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Mavrokefalos, Anastassios
• Ruchhoeft, Paul
• Witte, Larry C.
• Dunbar, Bonnie J.

• Boiling
• Nucleate pool boiling
• Boiling heat transfer
• Critical heat flux
• CHF enhancement
• Hydrophilic boiling
• Hydrophobic boiling
• Bubble Dynamics
• Film boiling
• Infrared thermography
• IR imaging
• Heat flux calculation
• High speed optical imaging
• Electrowetting
• EW at saturation temperature
• Active control
• Bubble EW
• AC EW
• DC EW
• Teflon coating
• Adhesion promoter

Statement dc:rights

• The author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s).

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10657/2812

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:uh-ir.tdl.org:10657/2812