Abstract
Friction is a major inhibitor in almost every mechanical system. Enlightened by the Leidenfrost effect – a droplet can be levitated by its own vapor layer on a sufficiently hot surface – we demonstrate for the first time that a small cart can also be levitated by Leidenfrost vapor. The levitated cart can carry certain amount of load and move frictionlessly over the hot surface. The maximum load that the cart can carry is experimentally tested over a range of surface temperatures. We show that the levitated cart can be propelled not only by gravitational force over a slanted flat surface, but also self-propelled over a ratchet shaped horizontal surface. In the end, we experimentally tested water consumption rate for sustaining the levitated cart, and compared the results to theoretical calculations. If perfected, this frictionless Leidenfrost cart could be used in numerous engineering applications where relative motion exists between surfaces.
Highlights
Friction is a major inhibitor in almost every mechanical system
Enlightened by the Leidenfrost effect – a droplet can be levitated by its own vapor layer on a sufficiently hot surface – we demonstrate for the first time that a small cart can be levitated by Leidenfrost vapor
We demonstrate for the first time that Leidenfrost levitation can potentially be harnessed for levitating mechanical solid parts, which is referred to later as ‘‘Leidenfrost cart’’, for frictionless motion
Summary
Friction is a major inhibitor in almost every mechanical system. Enlightened by the Leidenfrost effect – a droplet can be levitated by its own vapor layer on a sufficiently hot surface – we demonstrate for the first time that a small cart can be levitated by Leidenfrost vapor. We experimentally tested water consumption rate for sustaining the levitated cart, and compared the results to theoretical calculations If perfected, this frictionless Leidenfrost cart could be used in numerous engineering applications where relative motion exists between surfaces. Significant progresses have been made on controlling Leidenfrost levitation, such as self-propelled Leidenfrost droplets[7,8,9], no-transition-state Leidenfrost phenomena[10,11], and destabilization of Leidenfrost vapor by charging the droplets[12]. Most of these studies focused on liquid droplets. Several important factors affecting Leidenfrost cart have been carefully characterized and explained in following sections
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