Effects of titania nanoparticles on heat transfer performance of spray cooling with full cone nozzle

Spray cooling using aqueous titania nanofluids was studied. The temperatures of a testing plate under various spraying conditions were first measured; an inverse heat conduction technique was then applied to convert these measured temperatures into heat transfer coefficients (HTCs). It was found that the HTC increased logarithmically with the volume flux, but was decreased with the increase of the nanoparticle fraction. A correlation analysis was performed to quantify the HTC reduction caused by the increase of nanoparticles, and reconfirmed that the major cause for the HTC reduction was the difference in the impact (or impingement) behavior between solid nanoparticles and fluid droplets. A comparison study of the present findings with the previous published results was also performed and indicated that all results compared were consistent to each other based on the similar spray cooling conditions with different nanofluids or nozzles. The effects by using aquatic titania nanofluids instead of aquatic alumina nanofluids and by using full-cone nozzle instead of solid jet nozzle were specifically assessed and the associated rationales for the differences in these effects were given.