Heat transfer during spray water cooling using steady experiments

Spray water cooling is widely used in many industrial processes to control heat removal from a hot material surface. In order to control heat transfer rates and obtain desired surface temperature distributions, a deeper understanding of fundamental spray cooling dynamics and more accurate estimation of spray heat transfer rates is needed. In this thesis, a new technique combining experiment and computational modeling has been developed for measuring the steady-state heat transfer extracted locally by water sprays or air-mists impinging on the surface of a hot metallic sample. The experimental apparatus was developed by A. C. Hernandez B., H. Castillejos E, and F. A. Acosta Gat CINVESTAV, Mexico, and is designed to be able to employ spray water to cool the metallic sample accommodated inside a copper coil with an alternating current as induction heating goes on inside the sample. Control of total input power from the wall maintains each desired sample thermocouple temperature. A computational model developed using the commercial finite-element package COMSOL Mutiphysics uses a two-dimensional axisymmetric model of the electromagnetics and heat-conduction equations to balance the heat extracted from the sample surface by the boiling water droplets. Measurement of the RMS current flowing through the copper coil enables the model to estimate the heat extracted to the cooling spray by matching the sample thermocouple temperature measurement. Heat transfer coefficients and fluxes are quantified for spray cooling of a platinum sample at temperatures ranging from 100-1200C, using typical air-mist nozzles and conditions relevant to steel continuous casting, and also compared with transient measurement results of spray cooling and Nozaki empirical correlation. The results reveal the flexibility of the technique to investigate different aspects of spray cooling. The spray heat transfer coefficients extracted range from 1 kW/m2K to 27kW/m2K, and heat fluxes rang from 0.5MW/m2 to 5MW/m2 as the sample surface temperature varies from 80oC to 1185oC Heat removal hysteresis exists during the spray heating-cooling cycle. The Leidenfrost temperature is found to be around at 850oC.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Nuclear Engineering

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2010

Author dc:creator

• Zhou, Xiaoxu

Contributors dc:contributor

• Thomas, Brian G.

• Spray cooling
• Heat transfer
• Induction heating
• Spray heat transfer coefficient

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2009 Xiaoxu Zhou

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/14640

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/14640