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Spray cooling is a highly effective method of heat removal that has broad practical applications, including use in modern cooling systems designed for microelectronics and microchips. It is known that spray cooling performance is influenced by a huge number of factors. This experimental research is devoted to the study of the influence of a liquid flow rate in the range of 15.1–24.2 cm3/s, heat flux up to 6.4 MW/m2, and nozzle-to-surface distance on the heat transfer rate in non-boiling mode and the distribution of the local temperature of the heat exchange surface during spray cooling. It is shown that the heat transfer coefficient weakly depends on the heat flux for all studied nozzle-to-surface distances. It is demonstrated that the nozzle-to-surface distance has a significant influence on the heat transfer and the temperature distributionon the heating surface during spray cooling in non-boiling mode. At the same time, there is an optimal distance at which the maximum heat transfer rate and uniformity of the temperature are achieved. Criteria and a ratio for determining the optimal distance from the spray nozzle to the heated surface are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cooling systems often rely on numerical calculations with precise heat transfer boundary conditions (HTBC), usually expressed as average values. The value of the average HTBC depends on the area in which they are determined. The paper presents a new approach showing the influence of the choice of the method of supplying liquid onto the surface on the non-uniformity of energy transfer from the cooled surface, which is important in the selection of the determination domain on the HTBC. The tests were carried out for two full-cone nozzles with different spray angles and two materials with different thermal properties. The local and average heat fluxes were determined for various distances of the nozzles from the surface and various liquid supply pressures. Cooling capacity, unevenness of energy transfer from the surface and quenching characteristics were evaluated and assessed using cooling curves. The study concludes that adopting HTBC based on average heat flux variation does not cause a significant error in the assessment of energy transfer during cooling with a nozzle with spray angle of 60° for EN 1.4845 steel. However, for Inconel and a nozzle with spray angle of 45°, the noticeable non-uniformity requires the application of a local HTBC. • Unevenness the spray cooling process. • Possibilities of using the average heat transfer boundary condition. • Recommendations for the use of local heat transfer boundary condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The high temperature cylindrical surface cooled by spray was simulated. • The effect of spray spacing on cooling was simulated, and the best spray spacing range was obtained. • The temperature and wall heat flux distribution of the cooling area under different nozzle array forms were analyzed. • It is pointed out that the unidirectional inclined array spray can obtain better cooling effect. Spray cooling technology is an efficient cooling method. In the industrial application, the large area cooling requires the multi-nozzle spray design. Reasonable selection of nozzle array form is particularly important. Therefore, the simulation is applied in this study to investigate the effect of the nozzle array on the spray cooling of steel pipes after the model is validated. A steel pipe with a diameter of 140 mm, a wall thickness of 20 mm, and a length of 350 mm is employed as the research object, with an initial temperature of 900 °C. The scheme has four options for double spray spacing: OLR = −15 %, 0 %, 15 %, and 30 %. The results show that when the OLR grows, the cooling area gradually diminishes, and the cooling area's average temperature and average surface heat flux fall and subsequently increase. When OLR=30 %, the best cooling zone shape is obtained. The minimum average temperature, 231 °C, is obtained when OLR = 15 %. After comprehensive analysis, the ideal spray spacing range is found at OLR = 15 %∼30 %. In order to study the nozzle array, spray nozzles are arranged in multiple rows according to OLR = 30 %. This study also explores the strategies of unidirectional inclined spray and opposite inclined spray for lessening the area of the hot spot. There are six nozzle array arrangements in total. By comparing the results, it is discovered that the inclined spray increases the cooling area and accelerates the surface cooling of steel pipes. Under the side-by-side unidirectional inclined spray and the staggered unidirectional inclined spray, the cooling areas are 146,868 mm2 and 142,914 mm2 respectively, the average temperatures are 157.09 °C and 154.28 °C respectively. It is indicated that side-by-side inclined spray and staggered inclined spray are the better nozzle array arrangement to obtain the maximum cooling efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines spray cooling of horizontal, circular tubes when the surface temperature exceeds the Leidenfrost point, and the individual drop impacts are in the film boiling regime. Although film boiling is not an optimal condition for heat transfer, it is encountered in transient cooling processes or when high temperatures persist along the tube. The goal of the study is to apply existing models for drop impact and heat transfer to surfaces more complex than flat plates and to determine the overall steady state heat removal rate as an essential parameter for heat exchanger design. The spray characteristics are prescribed by a local number flux and drop size, assuming a random distribution in space and a uniform velocity of all drops. The angle of individual drop impingement on the cylindrical tube is accounted for through the maximum spreading diameter of the drop on the surface and the normal component of impact velocity. Furthermore, drop-drop interaction on the heated surface is accounted for at high local number flux values through an effective coverage area coefficient. The results are expressed in the form of a local heat transfer coefficient. These results confirm that the most influential parameters regarding heat transfer are the liquid mass flow rate in the nozzle and the drop diameter; however, they also indicate that the non-normal impact of drops over portions of the cylindrical tube leads to a highly reduced number flux; hence heat transfer. This oblique impact angle arises for one from the local spray angle, but more drastically from the curved, cylindrical surface; the latter leading to a dramatic sharp decrease in heat transfer. This is important information when considering the use of multiple spray nozzles, either circumferentially or longitudinally along the tube, since it dictates the optimal spacing between neighbouring nozzles. [Display omitted] • A methodology for predicting spray cooling in the film boiling regime is introduced. • The predication of heat transfer is based on theoretical analysis; only one empirical factor is introduced. • The local impingement angle of drops has been considered in the hydrodynamics of impact and in the influence on the local number flux. • Parametric studies indicate the influence of droplet size, substrate temperature, and mass flow rate on the heat transfer. • This study lays the basis for simulation of practical spray cooling scenarios involving multiple nozzles and/or nozzle arrays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A commonly-used method to cool rotating cylinders involves spraying water on the surface to cool its internal particles. This paper conducted a numerical investigation of heat transfer from a rotary cylinder cooled with sprayed water. A 3-D numerical model was generated, and the distributions of the wall temperatures and liquid films were analyzed. Then, the heat transfer characteristics for different parameters were obtained and compared. The results showed that the best location for a single spray nozzle was directly above the cylinder, where it had the most uniform liquid film and highest heat exchange efficiency. With increased rotation speeds, the cylinder wall temperature increased and the distribution of wall temperature and liquid film became more uniform, which improved heat transfer. Because of the influence of gravity, the slope of the cylinder had a negative influence on the distribution of the liquid film. When the cylinder material had lower thermal conductivity, the system needed a much longer period of time before it was stable and had lower heat flux. Furthermore, with the same heat source, the system heat flux could not be determined with only the outer surface temperature, but with the temperature difference between inner surface and outer surface. [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]

Abstract: A spray cooling study was conducted to investigate the effect of enhanced surfaces on Critical Heat Flux (CHF). Test surfaces involved micro-scale indentations and protrusions, macro (mm) scale pyramidal pin fins, and multi-scale structured surfaces, combining macro and micro-scale structures, along with a smooth surface that served as reference. Tests were conducted in a closed loop system using a vapor atomized spray nozzle with ammonia as the working fluid. Nominal flow rates were 1.6ml/cm2 s of liquid and 13.8ml/cm2 s of vapor, resulting in a pressure drop of 48kPa. Results indicated that the multi-scale structured surface helped increase maximum heat flux limit by 18% over the reference smooth surface, to 910W/cm2 at nominal flow rate. During the additional CHF testing at higher flow rates, most heaters experienced failures before reaching CHF at heat fluxes above 950W/cm2. However, some enhanced surfaces can achieve CHF values of up to ≈1100W/cm2 with ≈67% spray cooling efficiency based on liquid usage. The results also shed some light on the current understanding of the spray cooling heat transfer mechanisms. Enhanced surfaces are found to be capable of retaining more liquid compared to a smooth surface, and efficiently spread the liquid film via capillary force within the structures. This important advantage delays the occurrence of dry patches at high heat fluxes, and leads to higher CHF. The present work demonstrated ammonia spray cooling as a unique alternative for challenging thermal management tasks that call for high heat flux removal while maintaining a low device temperature with a compact and efficient cooling scheme. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Prediction models have been constructed to investigate the effect of vibrating surfaces on the critical heat flux (CHF) and its associated temperature in spray evaporative cooling. Dimensional analysis has been used to construct the models to account for the influence of key dynamic parameters. Experimental measurements have been obtained from a flat, electrically-heated, copper test-piece, located inside a spray-chamber mounted on top of a shaker. A wide range of large-amplitude and high-frequency measurements have been obtained which correspond to test conditions for a piece of hardware mounted on board a light-duty automotive vehicle with vibration amplitudes ranging from 0 to 8 mm and frequencies from 0 to 200 Hz. Three nozzle types have been fed with distilled water at flow rates ranging from 55 to 100 ml/min being used to cool with subcooling degrees Δ T s u b ranging from 10°C to 45°C. Measured data for both static and dynamic cases have been used to explore the influence on the CHF and the surface-to-fluid saturation temperature at which this occurs, of subcooling degrees, surface vibration amplitude and frequency, vibrational Reynolds Number and vibrational Acceleration Number. The measured data has also subsequently been used to calibrate the predictive models for use in thermal management systems. Static measurements (without vibration) show that the influence of flow rate, volumetric flux, and subcooling are largely in agreement with published literature. For dynamic cases, the influence of vibration is best explained in terms of the nondimensional parameters: Vibration Reynolds Number and Acceleration Number. The effect of vibration on CHF and associated temperature is assessed in detail for the three nozzle types at different flow rates and degrees of subcooling. Predictions of CHF and associated excess temperature, using the calibrated correlation models for the dynamic conditions, are very reasonable, and suitable for the intended purpose of ensuring safe operation of thermal management systems using spray evaporative cooling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spray cooling characteristics of a flow blurring injector are investigated experimentally. Variations of the flow rates and the distance from the nozzle to the test surface are examined in terms of the cooling heat flux. The liquid flow rate is varied from 200 to 1200 mL / h. The effect of the air flow rate from 6 to 18 L / min is also studied and heat transfer coefficients are obtained. Depending on different effective parameters, the maximum cooling heat flux is measured between 61 and 193 W / cm 2. Owing to formation of fine droplets at higher air flow rates, the maximum cooling heat flux is improved by about 60%. The present data is generated for a flow blurring type of injector to have four major advantages simultaneously compared to the previous twin-fluid injectors. These advantages can be listed as; having fine droplets using low liquid flow rates, low liquid and gas pressures, relatively large orifice diameters, and a simple design. Here, with the mentioned privileges, it is demonstrated that the same maximum range of heat flux is achieved by about one order of magnitude less liquid consumption rate than previous studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Multi-nozzle spray cooling of a downward-facing large heated surface (96 cm2) is studied experimentally. • For the application of RPV external cooling, the influence of surface inclination to spray cooling system was also considered. • A surface heat flux margin of ~2.5 MW/m2 was obtained at every inclination. • The inclination angle has no effect on the spray cooling heat transfer. • With the obtained spray cooling heat flux, IVR is possible in the large power reactors. Cooling by water spray is a well-known technology that can reach significantly higher Critical Heat Flux (CHF) compared to other cooling methods. For the light water reactor safety, the in-vessel retention (IVR) by external reactor vessel cooling (ERVC) is a comprehensive severe accident management strategy to arrest and confine the corium in the lower head of the reactor pressure vessel. Heat fluxes up to 1.5 MW/m2 have already been assumed attainable in low-power nuclear reactors while cooling required in high-power reactors is expected to reach 2.5 MW/m2. Instead of reactor lower head flooding and relying on cooling due to natural convection, a viable and more efficient alternative is to spray the external surface of the vessel. Given all the advantages of spray cooling reported in the literature, a lab-scale experimental facility was built to validate the efficiency of multi-nozzle spray cooling of a downward-facing heated surface inclined at different angles up to 90o. The facility employed a 2 × 3 matrix of spray nozzles to cool the FeCrAl alloy foil with an effectively heated surface area of 96 cm2 using water as the coolant. Heat loads and surface inclinations were varied parameters in the test matrix. The results show that no significant variations in spray cooling performance concerning the inclination of the heated surface. A surface heat flux of 2.5 MW/m2 was achieved at every inclination of the downward-facing surface. The results also indicate that more uniform liquid film distribution could be obtained for some inclinations, which in turn leads to maintaining low surface temperature. The obtained surface heat flux margin by spray cooling indicates that it is feasible to adopt IVR-ERVC strategy for a large power reactor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, spray cooling heat transfer characteristics were numerically investigated under the heat flux ranging from 50 to 170 W/cm2. Effect of nozzle height and spray pressure was also studied in order to reveal the microscopic mechanisms of the heat transfer enhancement from single-phase to nucleate boiling regions. A two-phase flow heat transfer model was adopted based on the Euler-Lagrangian approach. The dependence of thermo-physical properties of fluid on the temperature was also taken into account. The comparison between simulated wall temperature and experimental data demonstrates a satisfactory agreement. The results show that the heat transfer coefficient increases monotonously with the heat flux. In the nucleate boiling region, the wall film is thinner with a smaller velocity compared with those in the single-phase region. Spray cooling heat transfer is enhanced evidently as the nozzle height decreases and the spray pressure increases. The most important feature which separates the present study from the literature is that the numerical simulation in this paper presents some detailed microscopic characteristics, e.g. the wall film thickness and velocity, which play an important role in spray cooling heat transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The accuracy of three locations temperature was verified by comparing with available experimental data. • The wall-jet model is a necessary mathematical model for the simulation of the high temperature spray cooling. • The surface temperature exhibited spatial non-uniformity cooling characteristics in the nucleate boiling regime. • The increase of the droplet velocity is beneficial to the cooling efficiency. In order to enhance the intensity and other mechanical properties of the steel, fast cooling technique is generally employed in the metallurgical industry. In the present paper the spray cooling characteristics during steel making process were numerically studied by CFD. A two-phase flow model was established based on the Euler-Lagrangian method. The Lagrangian method was applied to account for the behavior of the discrete droplets while the Eulerian scheme was employed to describe the continuous phase. The wall-jet and Lagrangian wall-film models were applied according to the surface temperature. The accuracy of the model was verified by comparing the temperature with available experimental data. The heat transfer characteristics and metal cooling characteristics during spray cooling were studied and the heat transfer mechanisms during film boiling, transition boiling, nucleate boiling and forced convection regimes were analyzed. The surface temperature exhibits spatially non-uniformity due to the cooling characteristics relating to the flow field of the spray. The influence of the droplet velocity was investigated and the results show that the cooling speed is accelerated with the increase of the droplet velocity and the peak of the heat flux is also corresponding with higher surface temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]