High heat flux spray cooling

Studies have been performed in spray cooling with phase change using water as the coolant. A gas atomizing nozzle was used with both air and steam as the driving gases. The effect of gas atomizing pressure and liquid flow rate on the heat transfer, specifically, the critical heat flux is studied. Spray droplet size and velocity, liquid film thickness and flatness were measured using phase Doppler, Fresnel diffraction, and holographic techniques, respectively. The effect of spray characteristics on film thickness and heat transfer is discussed.