Active Control of Electric Field for Enhancing Condensation Heat Transfer on Grooved Surface

Abstract Condensation heat transfer is currently an efficient heat transfer method. To further improve heat transfer coefficient, this study proposes to strengthen condensation heat transfer by relying on an actively adjustable electric field. The research is conducted based on the mesoscopic scale pseudo-potential model coupled with the leakage dielectric model. Four strategies, including no electric field, horizontal placed electric field, vertical placed electric field, and changing direction of electric field, were compared for enhancement on condensation. Then, the effect of switching time, conductivity ratio, dielectric constant ratio, and capillary number on the strategy of changing the electric field direction to enhance condensation was explored. The results show that the strategy of changing the direction of electric field has the best enhancement on condensation, reducing condensation cycle by 21.51% and increasing the overall condensation efficiency by 19.51%. Subsequently, the optimal electric field direction switching strategy was determined when the droplet diameter grew to 45. Immediately following, the optimal electric field intensity switching strategies under different conductivity ratio and dielectric constant ratio were determined, further optimizing the condensation heat transfer efficiency by 27.44%.