Vapour film condensation heat transfer and hydrodynamics under the influence of an electric field

Abstract The paper presents experimental results on heat transfer and hydrodynamics in film condensation of a stagnant pure vapour on vertical short surfaces in an electric field of different strength, frequency and uniformity. A twenty-fold increase in the heat transfer coefficient with negligible power expenditure on setting up an electrostatic fields is attained. Enhancement of heat transfer under the electrohydrodynamic effect is shown to be due to reduction of the film thickness caused by condensate spraying into the vapour phase and formation of transverse waves. It is shown that under the action of a constant electric field the film condensation heat transfer obeys the laws that govern laminar film flow. Correlation of the experimental data for different working fluids in the form of similarity relations has been carried out.