Condensation heat transfer on micro and nano structured super hydrophobic surface

Condensation phenomena occur during the PCCS operation cooling the containment through phase change heat transfer. Accordingly it is important to enhance the condensation heat transfer performance. Condensation mode is commonly classified as filmwise condensation (FWC) and dropwise condensation (DWC). DWC heat transfer performance has an order of magnitude higher than FWC heat transfer performance. In DWC process, condensed liquid droplets attach to the surface and prevent transfer of heat to the cooled surface. Generally the condensate is removed by gravity. When removal rate of condensate is high, DWC heat transfer performance will be enhanced. In terms of removal rate, superhydrophobic surface, which is recently in the spotlight, is expected to have capability to enhance the DWC heat transfer efficiency by reducing droplet size. In this study, we investigated condensation heat transfer performance on micro and nano structured superhydrophobic surface. Condensation experiments on the micro and nano structured superhydrophobic surface were carried out and compared with those on the smooth hydrophobic surface in terms of heat transfer performance and condensed droplet morphologies. Through the experiments, we found that superhydrophobicity disappeared under the condensation circumstance. As a result, heat transfer performance on the superhydro-phobic structured surface decreased compared with that on the smooth hydrophobic surface. In order to enhance the condensation heat transfer performance with superhydrophobic property, condensation mechanism on superhydrophobic surface and the conditions for sustaining superhydrophobicity should be studied more