Investigation of Dynamic Characteristics of Liquid Nitrogen Droplet Impact on Solid Surface

Liquid nitrogen spray cooling technology exhibits excellent heat transfer efficiency and environmental protection performance. The promotion of this technology plays an important role in improving the sustainable development of the refrigeration industry. In order to clarify its complex microscale behavior, the coupled Level Set-VOF method was adopted to study the dynamic characteristics of liquid nitrogen droplet impact on solid surface in this paper. The spreading behaviors under various factors (initial velocity, initial diameter, wall temperature, and We number) were systematically analyzed. The results show that the spreading behaviors of liquid nitrogen droplet share the same process with the normal medium, which are rebound, retraction, and splashing. For the droplet with smaller velocity and diameter, Rebound is the common phenomenon due to the smaller kinetic energy. With the increase of droplet diameter (0.2 mm to 0.5 mm) and velocity (0.1 m/s to 5 m/s), the spreading factor increases rapidly and the spreading behaviors evolve into retraction and splashing. The increase of wall temperature accelerates the droplets spreading, and the spreading factor increases accordingly. For the liquid nitrogen droplets hit the wall, the dynamic behaviors of rebound (We < 0.2), retraction (0.2 < We < 4.9), and splashing (We > 4.9) will occur with the droplet weber number increased, which are consistent with the common medium. However, due to liquid nitrogen having lower viscosity and surface tension, the conditions of morphological transformations are different from the common media. The maximum spreading diameter has a power correlation with We, the power index of We is 0.306 for liquid nitrogen, lager than common medium (0.25). The reasons are: (1) the better wettability of liquid nitrogen, and (2) the vapor generated by the violent phase change ejects along the axial direction. The article will provide a certain theoretical basis for liquid nitrogen spray cooling technology, and can also enrich the flow dynamics of cryogenic fluids.

DETERMINATION OF THE AVERAGE WALL TEMPERATURE OF THE PLATE IN A RECUPERATIVE HEAT EXCHANGER WITH A CORRUGATED MESH INSERT

This article discusses the issue of determining the value the average wall temperature of the plate of a recuperative heat exchanger type “air-to-air” with a corrugated mesh insert based on the results processing the data of a physical experiment to determine the thermohydraulic characteristics such heat exchange surfaces. It has been established that the temperature fi eld of heat exchange surfaces of this type is nonuniform, depends on the conditions of heat exchange and hydraulic regimes of air fl ow. Therefore, the adoption of the arithmetic means value of the measured surface temperatures as the calculated average temperature of the heat exchanger wall entails signifi cant errors in the subsequent processing of experimental data and fi nal the values of the heat transfer coeffi cients, the values the Nusselt criterion and the criterion equations of heat transfer. It is proposed to determine the average value the wall temperature of the heat exchanger based on the results of measurements the wall’s temperatures, the estimate of the coordinates the center of distribution the results of measurements the wall temperatures, the equations of heat balance and heat transfer.

Heat Transfer of Turbulent Gaseous Flow in Microtubes with Constant Wall Temperature

Experiments were conducted with nitrogen gas flow in two microtubes with constant wall temperature, made of stainless-steel and copper with diameters of 524 and 537 micrometers, to measure the total temperature at the inlet and outlet and quantitively determine the heat transfer rates. The temperature differences between the inlet and the wall were maintained at 3, 5 and 10 K by circulating water around the inlet and the wall. The stagnation pressures were controlled such that the flow with atmospheric back pressure reached Reynolds numbers as high as 26000. To measure the total temperature, a polystyrene tube with thermally insulated exterior wall containing six plastic baffles, was attached to the outlet. Heat transfer rates were obtained from the gas enthalpy difference by using the pressures and the total temperatures measured at the inlet and outlet. Heat transfer rates were also compared with those obtained from the ideal gas enthalpy using the measured total temperatures and from the Nusselt number for incompressible flow. It was found that the measured total temperature at the microtube outlet was higher than the wall temperature. Also, the heat transfer rates calculated from the total temperature difference were higher than the values obtained from the incompressible flow theory.