Study and simulation of Filmwise and Dropwise Condensation

Synopsis
Condensation is a phase change heat transfer process occurring in many industrial
applications, such as in steam power plants, refrigeration plants etc. Thus, this is one
of the important heat transfer processes as present in mechanical engineering
applications. The processes involving phase change, like boiling and condensation,
are also very important in engineering practice. Boilers and condensers are essential
components of modern thermal power plants; so are the evaporators and
condensers in the vapor compression refrigeration cycles. The phenomenon of
boiling heat transfer has also been successfully used in the cooling of nuclear
reactors and rocket motors where the energy dissipation rates are extremely large.
In order to be able to design these components effectively the phenomena of phase
change processes must be well understood.
The phenomena associated with boiling and condensation is much more complex
than the convection process. This is due to the fact that latent heat effects, surface
tension, surface characteristics and other properties of two-phase systems are very
significant. High heat transfer rates associated with small temperature differences
are usually involved in boiling and condensation.
Condensation Heat Transfer: The process of condensation is the reverse of boiling.
Whenever a saturated vapor comes in contact with a surface at a lower temperature,
condensation occurs. There are two modes of condensation; filmwise, in which the
condensate wets the surface forming a continuous film which covers the entire
surface and dropwise in which the vapor condenses into small liquid droplets of
various sizes which fall down the surface in a random fashion.
Filmwise condensation generally occurs on clean uncontaminated surfaces. In this
type of condensation, the film covering the entire surface grows in thickness as it
moves down the surface by gravity. There exists a thermal gradient in the film and so
it acts as a resistance to heat transfer. In dropwise condensation a large portion of
the area of the plate is directly exposed to the vapor, making heat transfer rates
much larger (5 to10 times) than those in filmwise condensation.
Although dropwise condensation would be preferred to filmwise condensation yet it
is extremely difficult to achieve or maintain. This is because most surfaces become
‘wetted’ after being exposed to condensing vapors over a period of time. Dropwise
condensation can be obtained under controlled conditions with the help of certain
additives to the condensate and various surface coatings but its commercial viability
has not yet been proved. For this reason, the condensing equipment in use is
designed on the basis of filmwise condensation.
Submitted By: -

Shashikant Gupta

Vaibhav Chaturvedi

Vajid Ali,Vipul Jain