Influence of surface wettability on the transient characteristics of vapor condensation from humid air

ABSTRACT

The initial transient behavior of condensation of water vapor from humid air plays vital roles in a large variety of engineering applications. Although such influences on the steady-state attributes of dropwise and filmwise condensations have been widely investigated in the literature, description of their initial transient behaviors is rather limited. Herein we have characterized the initial transient regimes of condensation from humid air under varying NCG fractions on condenser plates of four different wettability. Results of the experiments provide the droplet size distribution on the condensing surface, condensate collection rate, and transient life of condensation for selected parametric conditions.

KEYWORDS:

• Filmwise condensation
• dropwise condensation
• surface wettability
• transient condensation
• noncondensable gas

Nomenclature

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Acknowledgments

The work has been supported by the Department of Atomic Energy – Board of Nuclear Sciences (DAE-BRNS), India through Project No. 36(1)/14/24/2016-BRNS. CD also acknowledges the help of Rohit Gupta and Arkadeep Datta in the design and fabrication of the experimental set-up.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Department of Atomic Energy – Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences [36(1)/14/24/2016-BRNS].