Theoretical analysis on condensation heat transfer on the hydrophobic–hydrophilic hybrid surfaces with the impact of the Marangoni convection

Abstract

Condensation occurs in the forms of filmwise condensation and dropwise condensation. Over the past decade, hybrid hydrophobic–hydrophilic surfaces have received significant attention due to their potential to enhance the heat transfer rate compared to complete dropwise condensation. The maximum condensed droplet radius in the hydrophobic region has a considerable impact on the heat transfer characteristics. This paper discusses the effect of the maximum droplet radius on hybrid surface heat transfer characteristics. On top of that, Marangoni convection effects originated due to the temperature gradient as a heat transfer resistance on the heat transfer rate is considered, modelled and investigated. Three models were investigated in this paper. The results indicate that there is an optimum maximum droplet radius for each model that can improve the heat transfer rate. When the filmwise region width increases from 0.5 mm to 1.0 mm, the optimum maximum droplet radius increases from 0.25 mm to 0.3 mm. For a fixated droplet contact angle and filmwise and dropwise region widths, the hybrid heat flux of the smooth dropwise model can be up to 1.55 times higher than that of the Cassie–Baxter model, and the hybrid heat flux of the smooth dropwise model can be up to 1.38 time higher than that of the Wenzel state. Finally, considering Marangoni convection showed up to a 30% increase in the heat transfer coefficient in some cases.