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To investigate the spray cooling characteristics and the impact of spray parameters such as chamber pressure, spray height, and spray tilt angle on heat transfer efficiency, a mathematical model based on the Eulerian–Lagrangian frame was established for an R410A closed-loop spray cooling system. The results revealed that the spray pattern is conical, with the center velocity significantly higher than the edge velocity. The temperature distribution of the cooling surface and liquid film height both exhibit a "W" shape, and the surface temperature is lower where the liquid film is thin. There is an optimal liquid film height of approximately 5 μm, at which the cooling surface temperature is the lowest. The surface temperature increases with an increase in the spray chamber pressure. Considering average cooling surface temperature, the optimal tilt angle is 40° with an average surface temperature of 330.1 K. When considering wall temperature and wall heat transfer coefficient uniformity, however, the optimal tilt angle is 10°, leading to the average surface temperature of 332.6 K. When increasing the optimal spray height to 70 mm, the average surface temperature is 313.4 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Liquid film morphologies are defined as 'continuous, interacted, and isolated' types. • The interval of wetted areas for the isolated films under P = 0.2 MPa is [0.11, 1.54] mm2. • The distributed and surface-averaged velocity of isolated films are predicted. Although the understanding of spray cooling has significantly improved, knowledge of the heat transfer mechanisms is still limited, and the related models based on experiments are separated from physical phenomena. As an example, while liquid film morphology have been investigated in detail, comparatively little is known about how the liquid films evolve on the surface, owing to the strong interaction and disturbance between atomised droplets and thin films with high turbulence. In this study, the liquid film dynamics of HFE-7000 spray in a two-phase cooling regime on a smooth and unpolished silicon surface were quantitatively captured, including the film morphology, film velocity, wetted area, and contact line length, under different inlet pressures and heat fluxes. Owing to the thermally induced agglomeration with increasing heat flux, the continuous liquid film finally dispersed into an isolated state, which is quantitatively defined as the 'isolated film regime' by the critical interval of the wetted area. The velocity of the isolated film under various conditions is a consequence of the radial velocity of the atomised droplets, surface conditions, and surface temperature gradient. Based on the correlation of the radial velocity of atomised droplets, prediction methods for the distribution and surface-averaged velocity of isolated films are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]