Condensation Behavior on Nanoengineered Superhydrophilic and Superhydrophobic Surface

Abstract

Condensation is an important and widely accepted heat transfer type in lots of industries and engineering processes. In the industries, condensation phenomenon can create problems for the processes themselves. The first problem when dealing with condensation is the presence of the condensate itself. If the condensation occurs on the upside down surface, the water generated due to condensation can create some problems. One of the examples is the ceiling of a dyeing chamber for a textile factory. This particular condensation problem is related to the water retention capacity of the upside down surface and also the inclination angle. If the surface can retain certain amount of water, then with a certain angle, the water can flow safely without dropping. In this case, the condensation should be clear either filmwise condensation or dropwise condensation. In order to achieve that, the nanoengineered superhydrophilic and superhydrophobic surfaces should be used. The nanoengineered superhydrophilic and superhydrophobic surfaces were fabricated through different methods, resulting in having different micro and nanostructures.Condensation rate for filmwise condensation was calculated to obtain the water retention capacity. The comparison of each type of surfaces was reported. The nanoengineered superhydrophilic surface is proposed as an effective surface in terms of water retention capacity and also the small value of minimum inclination angle, which can be applied to the upside down surface for the textile factory. The conditions and characteristics of every surface are reported on this research.