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The aim of this paper is to study the spray cooling heat transfer characteristics using CFD method. The two phase mathematical model is established based on Euler-Lagrange approach. In this model, unsteady-state flow conditions are simulated. Heat and mass transfer between the vapor and the water droplet are computed. The averaged error of numerical results is 10% compared to experimental results in our previous papers. It is concluded that the heat flux and its distribution on heated surface are influenced by the heated surface temperature, mass flux, nozzle to surface distance and the number of nozzles. Furthermore, the heat flux distribution do not change obviously with the increasing of heated surface temperature, and the heat flux increases with the increasing of mass flux. Moreover, there is an optimal nozzle to surface distance while the spray impingement zone circumscribes in heated surface, and more nozzles lead to higher heat flux and better heat flux distribution on heated surface. Considering the disadvantage of manufacture difficulty and cost increase for more nozzles, there is an optimal nozzle number in certain space and heat dissipation requirement. The optimal number of nozzles is 8 in this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Spray cooling heat transfer of various surface structures are investigated numerically. • 3D Euler-Lagrangian simulation is performed and wall-film model is used. • Liquid film thickness and streamlines are computed in the vicinity of different fin geometries. • Local film thickness increases in grooves. • The film velocity magnitude depends on the fin blockage. Liquid impingement cooling in the form of jet or spray is an appropriate method to remove heat from small surfaces progressively utilized in industry. In this study, numerical simulations are conducted to investigate the effect of surface structure on heat transfer characteristics. Five different three-dimensional structured surfaces are investigated using Euler-Lagrangian approach. The effect of surface structures is discussed on the liquid film thickness, the liquid film velocity, and the heat flux with its uniformity for a given spray and temperature characteristics. The results show that the convective heat transfer strongly depends on both liquid film thickness and velocity. While the liquid film thickness always grows in the grooved surfaces, its velocity depends on the form and direction of the fins. The averaged values of the film thickness and velocity magnitude are almost independent of the surface temperature. Among the investigated surfaces, the parallel and circular patterns showed the best and worst performance on heat transfer characteristics, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heat dissipation and uniform temperature distribution are crucial to the operational reliability of electronic devices. In this study, the heat transfer enhancement and surface temperature non-uniformity (STNU) improvement of spray cooling are numerically investigated by CFD. The simulated results match well with experimental data under verification conditions with the maximum relative deviation below 7%, which demonstrates the numerical reliability of the two-phase flow model based on Euler-Lagrangian approach. The results of adjusting spray height reveal that there are different optimal spray heights for the heat transfer (4 mm) and the STNU (12.81 mm), indicating that the heat transfer enhancement and STNU improvement cannot be realized simultaneously. Based on this, two methods to enhance heat transfer and reduce STNU are developed. One method is to reduce the tangent angle θ and increase the tangent height H accordingly. It shows that the θ = 30°, H = 27.59 mm case has a maximum enhancement of 24.03% in heat flux relative to the θ = 100°, H = 6.21 mm case. Moreover, for all nozzles (θ = 30°∼100°), the lower STNU is attained at respective tangent heights. The other method is spray-array jets cooling, in which 132 micro-hole jets are added around the spray. It is found that the minimum STNU is obtained by spray-array jets cooling compared with all cases of spray cooling. In addition, it weakens the evaporation, but promotes the forced convection dramatically. Based on the analysis of several average liquid film microscopic characteristics and the droplet distribution, it is concluded that the mean film velocity, thickness and droplet coverage uniformity are the keys to determine heat transfer and STNU. • Heat transfer and surface temperature non-uniformity STNU are numerically studied. • Two methods are developed to enhance heat transfer and reduce STNU simultaneously. • The minimum STNU is attained by spray-array jets cooling relative to spray cooling. • The mean film velocity and thickness are the key factors affecting heat transfer. • The more uniform the coverage of the impacting droplets, the smaller the STNU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]