Thermo- and fluid dynamics characterization of spray cooling with pulsed sprays

Abstract

A fundamental study is reported here on the spray impingement of pulsed sprays on heated surfaces. The experiments consider simultaneous measurements of surface heat flux and droplet characteristics performed with a Phase Doppler Anemometer (velocity, size and flux) prior to impact, to provide a better insight into the interaction between thermal and fluid dynamic effects during the period of injection. The experimental conditions are relevant for engines at steady rotational speeds between 1800 rpm and 3600 rpm, which are of interest for hybrid configurations, where the IC engine is set to operate at maximum efficiency. The analysis addresses the effects of injection conditions (e.g., duration, frequency and pressure) on the thermodynamic behaviour of the surface. It is observed that the heat flux decreases when the pressure of injection increases, due to dynamic variations of the film induced by interaction with impacting droplets in the film evaporation regime. Results further suggest that, for the range of injection conditions found in real engines, the time variation of the heat transfer during injection depends more on the liquid mass flux than on droplet size and axial velocity. However, when the engine load increases, the mechanism by which heat is removed from the surface varies from thermally controlled to mass diffusion controlled, due to saturation of the atmosphere with gasoline vapour. The time resolved measurements are processed to quantify the critical points of the boiling curves, e.g., the critical heat flux (CHF) at the Nukiyama temperature and the minimum heat flux (MHF) at the Leidenfrost temperature. The dynamic characteristics of those curves are used as an approach to describe the heat transfer mechanisms in pulsed spray systems. It is suggested that multiple droplet interaction alters the thermal behaviour of the target in the sense that both, CHF and MHF, increase in regions of large droplet concentration and when the frequency of injection increases. However, load variations associated with times of injection in the range 5–10 ms, do not produce significant alterations. Analysis shows the likely importance of transient mechanisms occurring at the solid–liquid and liquid–vapour interface in describing the interaction of pulsed sprays with hot surfaces.