Date of Award

2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Mechanical Engineering

First Advisor

Kizito, John Dr.

Abstract

The goal of the present work was to develop a spray cooling heat transfer loop. The specific objectives were to facilitate a component-by-component design necessary to develop a spray cooling loop and to integrate these components into a system with a capability to remove a high heat flux of at least 1000 W/cm2 from a heated surface. The system heater was characterized by developing a maximum heating curve at a specified minimum and maximum flow rates. In addition, a relationship between the mass flow rate and the applied pressure was developed. The design was tested to determine whether a cyclone could adequately separate two phase flow mixture supplied at the cyclone entrance. Finally, the main system pump was characterized by determining the pump-generated flow rates which were measured using flow meters located directly before the fluid entered the cooling chamber and expressed as a function of the input parameters. The experimental test resulted in a maximum liquid flow rate of 0.95 L/min, which corresponded to a heat flux of 1,267 W/cm2 and a steady state surface temperature of 824°C. The lowest liquid flow rate permissible was found to be 0.75 L/min and deemed to be an inefficient cooling flow rate because the cartridge heater wires began to glow red requiring the system be shutdown when the surface temperature reached 896°C. In addition, through experimentation, a relationship that described the effect of two-phase flow mixtures as a function of the nozzle type and spray pattern was developed.

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