Acoustically enhanced heat transport

We investigate the enhancement of heat transfer in the nucleate boiling regime by inducing high frequency acoustic waves (f ∼ 10⁶ Hz) on the heated surface. In the experiments, liquid droplets (deionized water) are dispensed directly onto a heated, vibrating substrate. At lower vibration amplitudes (ξ_s ∼ 10^-9 m), the improved heat transfer is mainly due to the detachment of vapor bubbles from the heated surface and the induced thermal mixing. Upon increasing the vibration amplitude (ξ_s ∼ 10^-8 m), the heat transfer becomes more substantial due to the rapid bursting of vapor bubbles happening at the liquid-air interface as a consequence of capillary waves travelling in the thin liquid film between the vapor bubble and the air. Further increases then lead to rapid atomization that continues to enhance the heat transfer. An acoustic wave displacement amplitude on the order of 10^-8 m with 10⁶ Hz order frequencies is observed to produce an improvement of up to 50% reduction in the surface temperature over the case without acoustic excitation.