Transient behavior of liquid film deposition and surface heat transfer upon cryogen-spray cooling coupled with cold air jet

Abstract

Cryogen spray cooling (CSC) has become a promising auxiliary-cooling technique for laser dermatology, which recently enhanced by cold air jet (CSC-CAJ). However, the CAJ-to-spray interactions could worsen the CSC performance and associated liquid film behavior. In this study, the transient behavior of liquid film deposition and surface heat transfer of CSC-CAJ was investigated. A high-speed camera was used to capture the film intensity through Mie-scattering technique. Fast-response TFTC thermocouple was used to measure the transient surface temperature. The large eddy simulation (LES) was used to extract the vortical structure, while the discrete-phase model (DPM) and Eulerian wall film (EWF) were coupled for the spray process and the transient film modeling. The results showed that the CAJ significantly enhanced CAJ-to-spray mixing and mitigated the film thickness (i.e., 32 % reduction). The CSC-CAJ had asymmetric film coverage due to induced counter-rotating vortex-pairs (CRVP) from the CAJ-to-spray interaction, which laterally clustered the spray. It permitted fast evaporation with dominant CAJ at the spray-periphery while permitting fast evaporation with dominant spray at the spray-core. Consequently, the CSC-CAJ showed 75 % temperature increment at the windward side and 15 % temperature reduction with 60 % heat transfer coefficient enhancement at the impingement point. The experimental film intensity and simulated film thickness were linearly correlated and significantly influenced the surface temperature. The combined results affirmed the significant impact of the CAJ on the transient film deposition, which potentially helps promote advanced cooling technology.