Sep 2022
Condensation is a perplexing problem to fully uncover, yet its applications play crucial roles in industrial development. In order to promote more efficient applications, improving the condensation process has been the focus of much scientific research. Various condensation heat transfer augmentation techniques have been utilized, these techniques can be classified to passive, active, or compound techniques. In this seminar, we will discuss the physics of condensation and how non-condensable gases, such as air reduce the condenser efficiency dramatically. Starting from the basic understanding of the physical mechanisms, we will discuss three condenser improvement techniques; (i) altering surface wettability to promote drop-wise condensation (passive technique), (ii) electric-field-enhanced condensation (active technique), (iii) novel jet impingement condenser design (compound technique). The third technique will be discussed in more detail. We will discuss that by shifting focus from surface treatment to the force required to sweep off a droplet, researchers were able to utilize stagnation pressure of jet impingement to effectively tune the shed droplet size. As a result, improving the heat transfer significantly. The novel condenser design proves to be a more efficient and compact alternative to conventional condenser designs. Finally, opportunities for scalability and system integration will be discussed, preferably with you participation.
Ali Alshehri is an assistant professor in King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) Mechanical Engineering departments. He is also affiliated with the Interdisciplinary Research Center for Renewable Energy and Power Systems (IRC-REPS) and the Interdisciplinary Research Center for Hydrogen and Energy Storage (IRC-HES). He received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2021. His research interest addresses various aspects of phase change physics, membrane distillation and thermal energy storage. He has published in the area of computational fluid dynamics, evaporating droplets, drop-wise condensation. His current focus is to scale-up a novel condenser design to suit a membrane distillation system.