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Due to the potential of significant energy release in cavitating flows, early cavitation inception and intensification of cavitating flows are of great importance. To use this potential, we investigated the deagglomeration of nanoparticle clusters with the implementation of hydrodynamic cavitation in a microfluidic device. For this purpose, a microfluidic device with a micro-orifice geometry was designed and fabricated using standard microfabrication processes. The system was tested with distilled water in the assembled experimental setup. The flow patterns were characterized using the cavitation number and inlet pressure. Titania nanoparticles were utilized to prepare nanoparticle suspensions. The suspensions were heated to allow agglomeration of nanoparticles. The system was operated with the new working fluid (nanoparticle clusters) at different inlet pressures. After characterizing flow patterns, the flow patterns were compared with those of pure water. The deagglomeration effects of hydrodynamic cavitation on nanoparticle clusters showed the possibility to apply this method for the stabilization of nanoparticles, which paves way to the implementation of nanoparticle suspensions to thermal fluid systems for increased energy efficiency as well as to drug delivery. Our results also indicate that the presence of nanoparticles in the working fluid enhanced cavitation intensity due to the increase in the number of heterogeneous nucleation sites.

In this study, cavitating flows inside a transparent cylindrical nozzle with an inner diameter of 0.9 mm were visualized, and the effect of cavitation on atomization characteristics of emerging sprays was investigated. Different patterns of cavitating flows inside the nozzle were visualized using a high-speed camera. In-house codes were developed to process the captured images to study the droplet size distribution and droplet velocity in different flow regimes. The results show that cavitating flows at the microscale have significant effects on atomization characteristics of the spray. Two working fluids, namely, water and poly(vinyl alcohol) microbubble (PVA MB) suspension, were employed. Accordingly, the injection pressures were detected as 690 kPa, 1035 kPa, and 1725 kPa for cavitation inception, supercavitation, and hydraulic flip flow regimes in the case of water, respectively. The corresponding pressures for the aforementioned patterns for PVA MB suspension were 590 kPa, 760 kPa, and 1070 kPa, respectively. At the microscale, as a result of a higher volume fraction of cavitation bubbles inside the nozzle, there is no large difference between the cavitation numbers corresponding to cavitating and hydraulic flip flows. Although the percentage of droplets with diameters smaller than 200 μm was roughly the same for both cases of water and PVA MB suspension, the Sauter mean diameter was considerably lower in the case of PVA MBs. Moreover, higher droplet velocities were achieved in the case of PVA MBs at lower injection pressures.

Due to growing cooling demands as well as emerging global warming and climate change issues, cooling systems should be more efficiently utilized. Boiling is an effective heat transfer mechanism, which has a critical role in many cooling systems. Surface modification is considered as the major approach for boiling heat transfer enhancement. In this study, we developed a microbial bio-coating surface modification technique for phase change cooling applications.Thermoacidophilic Sulfolobus solfataricus coating was implemented using a facile dip coating method on different metallic and non-metallic surfaces. Controlled by drying conditions, the coating exhibited rough and porous morphologies. When tested in a boiling heat transfer setup, bio-coated surfaces offered enhancements up to 76.3% in Critical Heat Flux (CHF). Next, a miniature evaporator was coated and tested for real-world air-conditioning applications, and coefficient of performance (COP) enhancements up to 11% clearly revealed the potential of biocoated surfaces for energy saving purpose and reduction in greenhouse gasses. Furthermore, coated evaporators reduced the exergy destruction rate up to 8%. This study not only offers a new type of coating morphology, but the applicability of the proposed bio-coating is also proven in a miniature air conditioning system.